Clouet, Jean

Clouet, Jean (zhäN klā`), called Janet or Jehannet (both: zhänĕ`), c.1485–1540, portrait and miniature painter. He was court painter and valet de chambre to the French king Francis I. He is thought to have been Flemish and may have been related to Jehan Cloët, painter to the duke of Burgundy in the late 15th cent. None of the works attributed to Jean Clouet can be proved to have been his. They include portraits of Francis I (Louvre), the dauphin Francis (Antwerp), and Charles de Cossé (Metropolitan Mus.); seven miniature portraits (Bibliothèque nationale); and a large number of portrait drawings, all of the highest quality. The drawings are characterized by a geometric simplicity of form and softness of modeling. His son,

François Clouet, c.1510–c.1572, also called Janet or Jehannet, inherited his father's position, serving as court painter successively under Francis I, Henry II, Francis II, and Charles IX. His work is notable for its clarity and precision of draughtsmanship. He enjoyed a high reputation and was patronized by many notables of the court. Attributed to him are two portraits of Francis (Uffizi; Louvre); portraits of Catherine de' Medici (Versailles), Elizabeth of Austria (Louvre), and Charles IX (Vienna); and one thought to be of Diane de Poitiers (called Lady in Her Bath, National Gall., Washington, D.C.). There are also a large number of portrait drawings preserved in Chantilly and in the Bibliothèque nationale and the Cabinet des Estampes, Paris.

Bibliography

See his complete drawings, miniatures, and paintings, ed. by P. Mellen (1971).

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Clouet, Jean

(born c. 1485—died c. 1540, Paris, Fr.) French painter. He was chief painter to Francis I and produced many pastel portraits of members of the French court. Clouet was one of the best 16th-century portrait painters, both incisive and delicate in the psychological characterization of sitters. His drawings are simple, broad, and subtle; his paintings are fresh in colour, subdued in modeling, and minute in execution. He was celebrated in his lifetime as the equal of Michelangelo. His son François Clouet (c. 1515–72) took his place as official painter to Francis I in 1540.