Jean Fouquet, self portrait (1450). The earliest portrait miniature, and possibly the earliest formal self-portrait. A portrait miniature is a miniature Portrait painting usually executed in Gouache or watercolor. A Self-portrait is a representation of an artist drawn painted photographed or sculpted by the artist ^[1]

Jean Fouquet or Jehan Fouquet (1420 - 1481) was the most important French painter of the 15th century, a master of both panel painting and manuscript illumination, and the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Painting (pān'tīng in Art, is the practice of applying Color to a Surface (support base such as e An illuminated manuscript is a Manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration such as decorated Initials borders and A portrait miniature is a miniature Portrait painting usually executed in Gouache or watercolor.

Life

Jean Fouquet was born in Tours. Tours is a city in France the Préfecture (capital city of the Indre-et-Loire département, on the lower reaches of the river Little is known of his life, but it is certain that he was in Italy about 1437, where he executed a portrait of Pope Eugene IV (now surviving only in much later copies), and that upon his return to France, while retaining his purely French sentiment, he grafted the elements of the Tuscan style, which he had acquired during his period in Italy, upon the style of the Van Eycks, which was the basis of early 15th-century French art, and thus became the founder of an important new school. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest A portrait is a painting, photograph, Sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person in which the face and its expression is predominant Pope Eugene IV (1383 &ndash February 23, 1447) born Gabriele Condulmer, was Pope from March 3, 1431, to his death Van Eyck (or van Eyck) also Van Eijk (or van Eijk) is a Dutch and Flemish surname that means "of Eyck" or "of Eijk" He was court painter to Louis XI. A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or noble family sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where Louis XI ( July 3, 1423 – August 30, 1483) called the Prudent (le Prudent and the Universal Spider ( Middle

Works

Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels (c. 1450)
Wood, 93 x 85 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. The Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp ( Dutch: Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten van Antwerpen) founded in 1810, houses a collection of

The taking of Jerusalem by Herod the Great, 36 BC

Also referred to as Souquet, Jean's supreme excellence as an illuminator, the exquisite precision in the rendering of the finest detail, and his power of clear characterization in work on this minute scale, have long since procured him an eminent position in the art of his country; his importance as a painter was fully realized when his portraits and altarpieces were for the first time brought together from various parts of Europe, at the exhibition of the "French Primitives" held at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Herod (הוֹרְדוֹס Horodos, Greek: Herōdes) also known as Herod I or Herod the Great (73 BC – 4 BC in Jericho An illuminated manuscript is a Manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration such as decorated Initials borders and An altarpiece is a picture or Relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the Altar of a church Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city

One of Fouquet's most important paintings is "Melun diptych" (c. A diptych (pronounced "dip-tick" dip'tik (or US: 'dɪp 1450), formerly in Melun cathedral. Melun is a commune in the southeastern Suburbs of Paris, France. This article is about the history and organisation of the cathedral The left wing depicts Etienne Chevalier with his patron saint St. Stephen (now in in Gemäldegalerie, Berlin) while the right wing shows a pale Virgin and Child surrounded by red and blue angels (Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp). The collection The Gemäldegalerie prides itself on its scientific methodology in collecting and displaying art The Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp ( Dutch: Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten van Antwerpen) founded in 1810, houses a collection of Since at least the seventeenth century, the Virgin has been recognized as a portrait of Agnès Sorel. Agnès Sorel (1421 &ndash February 9, 1450) surnamed Dame de beauté, was a mistress of King Charles VII of France. ^[2] The Louvre has his oil portraits of Charles VII, of Count Wilczek, and of Guillaume Jouvenal des Ursins, as well as a portrait drawing in crayon; while an authentic portrait from his brush is in the Liechtenstein collection. The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461 called the Victorious (le Victorieux or the Well-Served (le Bien-Servi was King of France from 1422 A crayon is a stick of colored Wax, Charcoal, Chalk, or other materials used for writing and Drawing.

His self-portrait miniature would be the earliest sole self-portrait surviving in Western art, if the portrait in the National Gallery, London by Jan van Eyck were not in fact a self-portrait, as most art historians believe it to be. Jan van Eyck or Johannes de Eyck (jɑn vɑn ɛik (before c 1395 &ndash before July 9, 1441) was an Early Netherlandish painter active

Far more numerous are his illuminated books and miniatures that have come down to us. The word miniature, derived from the Latin minium, Red lead, is a picture in an ancient or Medieval Illuminated manuscript The Musée Condé in Chantilly, Oise contains forty miniatures from a Book of Hours, painted in 1461 for Etienne Chevalier, already seen on the Berlin wing of the Melun altarpiece. The Château de Chantilly is a historic Château located in the town of Chantilly, France. Chantilly is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. A book of hours is the most common type of surviving Medieval Illuminated manuscript. From Fouquet's hand again are eleven out of the fourteen miniatures illustrating a translation of Josephus at the Bibliothèque Nationale. Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus The second volume of this manuscript, unfortunately with only one of the original thirteen miniatures, was discovered and bought in 1903 by Mr Henry Yates Thompson at a London sale, and restored by him to France.

External links

• English version of online exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale de France but French version here is much fuller
• Fouquet's decorations for the Book of Hours Treasure of the National Library of The Netherlands displayed via The European Library
•   "Jehan Fouquet". The European Library is an Internet service that offers access to the resources of 47 European National libraries. Catholic Encyclopedia. The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.  

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone