Francois Clouet Painting Reproductions 1 of 4
c.1510-1572
French Mannerist Painter
Francois Clouet (c. 1510 – 22 December 1572) son of Jean Clouet, was a French Renaissance miniaturist and painter, particularly known for his detailed portraits of the French ruling family.
Clouet was born in Tours.
The earliest reference to him is a document dated December 1541, in which the king renounces for the benefit of Francois his father's estate, which had escheated to the crown as the estate of a foreigner. In this document, the younger Clouet is said to have followed his father very closely in his art. Like his father, he held the office of groom of the chamber and painter in ordinary to the king, and so far as salary is concerned, he started where his father left off. Many drawings are attributed to this artist, often without perfect certainty. There is, however, more to go upon than there is in the case of his father.
As the praises of Francois Clouet were sung by the writers of the day, his name was carefully preserved from reign to reign, and there is an ancient and unbroken tradition in the attribution of many of his pictures. There are not, however, any original attestations of his works, nor are any documents known which would guarantee the ascriptions usually accepted. To him are attributed the portraits of Francis I at the Uffizi and at the Louvre, and various drawings relating to them. He probably also painted the portrait of Catherine de Medici at Versailles and other works, and in all probability a large number of the drawings ascribed to him were from his hand. One of his most remarkable portraits is that of Mary, queen of Scots, a drawing in chalks in the Bibliotheque Nationale, and of similar character are the two portraits of Charles IX and the one at Chantilly of Marguerite of France. Perhaps his masterpiece is the portrait of Elizabeth of Austria in the Louvre.
He resided in Paris in the rue de Ste Avoye in the Temple quarter, close to the Hotel de Guise, and in 1568 is known to have been under the patronage of Claude Gouffier de Boisy, Seigneur d'Oiron, and his wife Claude de Baune. Another ascertained fact concerning Francois Clouet is that in 1571 he was summoned to the office of the Court of the Mint, and his opinion was taken on the likeness to the king of a portrait struck by the mint. He prepared the death-mask of Henry II, as in 1547 he had taken a similar mask of the face and hands of Francis I., in order that the effigy to be used at the funeral might be prepared from his drawings; and on each of these occasions he executed the painting to be used in the decorations of the church and the banners for the great ceremony.
Several miniatures are believed to be his work, one very remarkable portrait being the half-length figure of Henry II in the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan. Another of his portraits is that of the duc d'Alencon in the Jones collection at South Kensington, and certain representations of members of the royal family which were in the Hamilton Palace collection and the Magniac sale are usually ascribed to him. He died on the 22nd of December 1572, shortly after the massacre of St Bartholomew, and his will, mentioning his sister and his two illegitimate daughters, and dealing with the disposition of a considerable amount of property, is still in existence. His daughters subsequently became nuns.
His work is remarkable for the extreme accuracy of the drawing, the elaborate finish of all the details, and the exquisite completeness of the whole portrait. He must have been a man of high intelligence, and of great penetration, intensely interested in his work, and with considerable ability to represent the character of his sitter in his portraits. His coloring is perhaps not specially remarkable, nor from the point of style can his pictures be considered especially beautiful, but in perfection of drawing he has hardly any equal.
Clouet was born in Tours.
The earliest reference to him is a document dated December 1541, in which the king renounces for the benefit of Francois his father's estate, which had escheated to the crown as the estate of a foreigner. In this document, the younger Clouet is said to have followed his father very closely in his art. Like his father, he held the office of groom of the chamber and painter in ordinary to the king, and so far as salary is concerned, he started where his father left off. Many drawings are attributed to this artist, often without perfect certainty. There is, however, more to go upon than there is in the case of his father.
As the praises of Francois Clouet were sung by the writers of the day, his name was carefully preserved from reign to reign, and there is an ancient and unbroken tradition in the attribution of many of his pictures. There are not, however, any original attestations of his works, nor are any documents known which would guarantee the ascriptions usually accepted. To him are attributed the portraits of Francis I at the Uffizi and at the Louvre, and various drawings relating to them. He probably also painted the portrait of Catherine de Medici at Versailles and other works, and in all probability a large number of the drawings ascribed to him were from his hand. One of his most remarkable portraits is that of Mary, queen of Scots, a drawing in chalks in the Bibliotheque Nationale, and of similar character are the two portraits of Charles IX and the one at Chantilly of Marguerite of France. Perhaps his masterpiece is the portrait of Elizabeth of Austria in the Louvre.
He resided in Paris in the rue de Ste Avoye in the Temple quarter, close to the Hotel de Guise, and in 1568 is known to have been under the patronage of Claude Gouffier de Boisy, Seigneur d'Oiron, and his wife Claude de Baune. Another ascertained fact concerning Francois Clouet is that in 1571 he was summoned to the office of the Court of the Mint, and his opinion was taken on the likeness to the king of a portrait struck by the mint. He prepared the death-mask of Henry II, as in 1547 he had taken a similar mask of the face and hands of Francis I., in order that the effigy to be used at the funeral might be prepared from his drawings; and on each of these occasions he executed the painting to be used in the decorations of the church and the banners for the great ceremony.
Several miniatures are believed to be his work, one very remarkable portrait being the half-length figure of Henry II in the collection of J. Pierpont Morgan. Another of his portraits is that of the duc d'Alencon in the Jones collection at South Kensington, and certain representations of members of the royal family which were in the Hamilton Palace collection and the Magniac sale are usually ascribed to him. He died on the 22nd of December 1572, shortly after the massacre of St Bartholomew, and his will, mentioning his sister and his two illegitimate daughters, and dealing with the disposition of a considerable amount of property, is still in existence. His daughters subsequently became nuns.
His work is remarkable for the extreme accuracy of the drawing, the elaborate finish of all the details, and the exquisite completeness of the whole portrait. He must have been a man of high intelligence, and of great penetration, intensely interested in his work, and with considerable ability to represent the character of his sitter in his portraits. His coloring is perhaps not specially remarkable, nor from the point of style can his pictures be considered especially beautiful, but in perfection of drawing he has hardly any equal.
86 Francois Clouet Paintings
Head of a Man 1566
Oil Painting
$2145
$2145
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5873
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 11.4 x 8.2 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 11.4 x 8.2 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA
Portrait of Charles IX c.1572/73
Oil Painting
$2379
$2379
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5874
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Portrait of a Woman n.d.
Oil Painting
$1993
$1993
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5875
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 8.8 x 8.8 cm
Stadel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 8.8 x 8.8 cm
Stadel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
Portrait of Francois Hercule de France Duc d'Alencon n.d.
Oil Painting
$2421
$2421
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5876
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 33 x 25 cm
Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 33 x 25 cm
Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Portrait of Henri II King of France 1547
Oil Painting
$2950
$2950
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5877
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 43 x 27 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 43 x 27 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Portrait of Anne de Montmorency Constable and ... n.d.
Oil Painting
$2128
$2128
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5878
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 31 x 21 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 31 x 21 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Portrait of Elisabeth of Austria 1571
Oil Painting
$3355
$3355
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5879
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 31 x 22 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 31 x 22 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Portrait of Odet de Coligny Cardinal of Chatillon 1548
Oil Painting
$4040
$4040
Canvas Print
$61.57
$61.57
SKU: CLF-5880
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Mary Queen of Scots c.1559
Oil Painting
$1361
$1361
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5881
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 31.7 x 23.5 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 31.7 x 23.5 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Portrait of Henry VI of England n.d.
Oil Painting
$2456
$2456
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5882
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Eton College, Windsor, United Kingdom
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Eton College, Windsor, United Kingdom
Portrait of Catherine de Medici n.d.
Oil Painting
$1993
$1993
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5883
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee Carnavalet, Paris, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee Carnavalet, Paris, France
Jacqueline de Rohan Duchesse de Longueville n.d.
Oil Painting
$2205
$2205
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5884
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France
Jeanne III d'Albret Queen of Navarre 1570
Oil Painting
$3525
$3525
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5885
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Francois Duc d'Alencon 1561
Oil Painting
$2440
$2440
SKU: CLF-5886
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
Portrait of Charles IX n.d.
Oil Painting
$3629
$3629
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5887
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 30 x 16.5 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 30 x 16.5 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Portrait of Catherine de Medici c.1555
Oil Painting
$2058
$2058
Paper Art Print
$48.26
$48.26
SKU: CLF-5888
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 6 x 4.4 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 6 x 4.4 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Portrait of Pierre Quthe 1562
Oil Painting
$3355
$3355
Canvas Print
$70.01
$70.01
SKU: CLF-5889
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 91 x 70 cm
Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 91 x 70 cm
Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Henry VI of England n.d.
Oil Painting
$1993
$1993
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5890
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henri II (A Lady ... c.1571
Oil Painting
$4841
$4841
Canvas Print
$67.30
$67.30
SKU: CLF-5891
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 92.1 x 81.3 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 92.1 x 81.3 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA
Marguerite de Valois c.1572
Oil Painting
$2323
$2323
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5892
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 39 x 29 cm
Musee Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 39 x 29 cm
Musee Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay, France
Portrait of Francois II c.1553
Oil Painting
$2323
$2323
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5893
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 29.5 x 22 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 29.5 x 22 cm
Musee Conde, Chantilly, France
Madame de Valentinois n.d.
Oil Painting
$2058
$2058
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5894
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Galleries and Museums, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Galleries and Museums, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Portrait of a Young Man n.d.
Oil Painting
$2414
$2414
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5895
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
Francois Clouet
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection
Mary Queen of Scots in White Mourning 1561
Oil Painting
$1872
$1872
Canvas Print
$50.56
$50.56
SKU: CLF-5896
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 32.9 x 27.4 cm
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Francois Clouet
Original Size: 32.9 x 27.4 cm
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom