Baroque Overview
Italian and Spanish Baroque
French Baroque
Rococo Art

Early French Art 1500 to 1600

Jean Clouet
(Jean Clouet or Cloet)

born: Bruxelles, Flanders; 1485-90
died: Paris, France; 1541

Worked in a late gothic style.
Painter to the French court.

Francis I, King of France oil on wood; 96×074 cm about 1527 Louvre, Paris, France

Guillaume Buté about 1536 oil on wood; 40×34 cm Metropolitan Museum New York, US Guillaume, for those who are interested, was a famous humanist, founder of the Collège de France, the first keeper of the royal library, an ambassador, and the chief magistrate of Paris

 

François Clouet

born: Tours, France; 1510
died: Paris, France; 1572

Son of Jean Clouet and also painter to the French court.

Lady in Her Bath about 1571 oil on panel; 92×81 cm National Gallery Washington DC, US	Elisabeth of Austria Queen of France 1571 oil on wood; 36×26 cm Louvre, Paris, France	Charles IX 1561 Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Austria
Diana's Bath about 1555 Museu de Arte São Paolo, Brazil	Francis I about 1540 Uffizi, Florence, Italy	Pierre Quthe 1562 oil on wood; 91×70 cm Louvre, Paris, France

School of Fontainebleau

The school of Fontainebleau by a bevy of both known and unknown artists, collectively known as the first school of Fontainebleau, possess a character that was already French. King Henry II's mistress, Diane de Poitiers, was the dictator of style.

Projection of Diane de Poitiers onto mythological characters was common. Above was the F. Clouet picture of A Lady in her Bath, which was is believed by some scholars to be a direct portrait. Below is a representation of her as Diana, the Huntress, by an unknown Fontainebleau School artist.

Return to the French Baroque

Baroque Overview
Italian and Spanish Baroque
Rococo Art