circa 1515 -1572 · French Renaissance, court portrait and pencil drawing

Attentive faces, clear contours, precious costumes and psychological observation make François Clouet the great portraitist of the court of the last Valois.

François Clouet was probably born in Tours around 1515. He was the son of Jean Clouet, a portrait painter of Flemish origin in the service of François I. In his father's workshop, he learned pencil drawing, the precision of the outline, attention to costume and this economy of means which brings out a personality on paper. When Jean died in 1541, François succeeded him as painter and valet to the king. He successively served François I, Henri II, François II and Charles IX. This continuity made his work an exceptional visual chronicle of the court of the Valois. He successively served François I, Henri II, François II and Charles IX. This continuity made his work an exceptional visual chronicle of the court of the Valois. Clouet produced painted portraits but also numerous drawn studies, often executed according to the living model before being translated into a painting or taken up by the workshop. Black, red stone and sometimes white highlights record the volume of the face, the texture of the hair and the intensity of the gaze. In the paintings, the pageantry of clothing, jewelry and weapons affirms rank without stifling individual presence. The portrait of Charles IX thus associates royal distance with an almost fragile observation of the young sovereign. Clouet, however, goes beyond the official portrait alone. Diane's bath thus combines royal distance with an almost fragile observation of the young sovereign. Clouet, however, goes beyond the official portrait alone. Diane's Bath transposes mythology into a complex court universe, populated by nudes, emblems and political allusions. Diane de Poitiers shows how an identity can be constructed between resemblance, idealization and symbol. His workshop meets considerable demand and produces numerous replicas; the attribution of works therefore requires a careful comparison between master's hand, workshop participation and later copies. Clouet died in Paris in 1572. His art linked the Nordic finesse inherited from his father to the Mannerist culture of Fontainebleau and lastingly fixed the image of the French Renaissance. The "François Clouet" selection notably compares King Henry II on Horseback and Charles IX. His reading favors the material.

Clouet puts ceremonial at the service of presence: behind the velvet, the pearl and the emblem, a precise look still meets ours.