recherche
- tefaf maastricht 2018
- masterpiece london 2018
- videos old masters
- news old masters
- press
- medias
- fine arts paris 2017
- tefaf new-york 2017
- masterpiece london 2017
- paris tableau bruxelles 2017
- study of butterflies
- contact old masters en
- art fairs old masters_en
- old masters en
- view of the city of antwerp
- jan wildens
- st. christopher in a panoramic landscape
- jan wellens de cock
- pair of landscapes: summer and autumn
- sebastian vrancx
- virgin and child
- rogier van der weyden
- adam and eve
- aert van den bossche
- extensive landscape with a river on the valley
- marten van valckenborch
- a collector’s cabinet
- pair of seasons: summer and winter
- adriaen van stalbemt
- pair of still lifes: basket of fruits with melon, lemons, cherries and pomegranate on a table, accompanied by a parrot and a squirrel; vase of flowers, bunches of grapes and pumpkin on a table with two hamsters and a macaw
- jan van kessel the younger
- ’banketje’ with ‘kraak’ china bowls, containing raspberries and brambles, flowers in a bronze vase, chaffinch and butterfly
- still life with a water melon, a bowl of grapes, peaches, plums and birds
- still life with vase of flowers and cocks
- river landscape
- pair of vases of flowers: tulips, roses and other flowers in a glass vase with butterflies on a table; tulips, roses and other flowers in a glass vase with butterflies and a caterpillar on a table
- study of insects, flowers and shells
- jan van kessel
- still life with copperware, fruit and a butterfly
- pseudo van kessel
- the wedding dance outside
- the massacre of the innocents
- marten van cleve
- winter landscape with elegant skaters on a frozen lake, ice-breakers and a town in the distance
- winter landscape with elegant skaters on a frozen lake and a town in the distance
- adam van breen
- village with people
- josef van bredael
- peasants playing cards in an interior
- the village apothecary
- saint jerome
- david teniers
- seascape with view of a seashore animated by figures
- abraham storck
- still life with basket of grapes, bowl of brambles and bunch of flowers on a table
- isaac soreau
- pair of still lifes: still life with fruit and vegetables and still life with fruits and vegetables with a stoneware pitcher
- pieter snyers
- still life with monkeys stealing fruit and a pot of pink carnations
- frans snyders
- interior of a farm with still life
- jacob savery the elder
- earthly paradise
- jacob savery the younger
- landscape of the rhine valley
- pair of mountainous landscapes
- martin rijckaert
- portrait of martin luther
- georg pencz
- still life with mallard, hare, squirrel and basket of grapes
- clara peeters
- panoramic landscape with pietà
- panoramic landscapte with the rest during the flight into egypt
- joachim patenier
- calvary
- brunswick monogrammist
- landscape with rest on the flight into egypt
- antoine mirou
- panoramic landscape with flight to egypt
- panoramic landscape with the sermon of st. john the baptist
- herri met de bles
- head-and-shoulders portrait of a twenty-five year old man, dressed in a black coat and a hat
- master of the portrait of andreas hertwig
- triptych: mystical marriage of saint catherine (central panel) saint barbara and saint mary magdalena (wings)
- master of the holy blood
- the holy family with st. elizabeth and st. john the baptist
- master of female half-lengths
- saint christophe
- master of frankfurt
- madonna and child in a panoramic landscape
- master with the parrot
- the rest during the flight into egypt
- cornelis massys
- the temptation of saint anthony
- the temptation of saint anthony in a panoramic landscape
- jan mandijn
- still life with an orange on a pewter plate, a porcelain pitcher, a glass, bread and a box of tobacco on a table
- cornelis mahu
- winter landscape animated with villagers
- winter landscape with people strolling on the banks of a frozen river where children play
- gijsbrecht leytens
- the four elements
- the four seasons
- abraham janssens
- apelles painting campaspe in the presence of alexander
- jacob hoefnagel
- francesco guardi
- pair of capricci
- the preparations for winter in a panoramic landscape
- the rest during the flight into egypt
- jacob grimmer
- winter: snow-covered landscape with fortified castle and games on the ice
- church interior animated with figures
- the parable of the blinds
- the tower of babel
- the visit to the farm
- landscape and manor with the proposal of isaac and rebecca
- pair of months: the month of september or the parable of the barren fig tree and the month of october or the parable of the wicked tenants
- abel grimmer
- vertumnus and pomona
- abraham govaerts
- panoramic landscape with a river and mountains
- pieter gysels
- the gardens of a renaissance palace, with episodes from the story of david and bathsheba, in a panoramic landscape adorned with mountains and a port
- lucas gassel
- christ on the road to calvary
- frans francken the younger
- the triumph of the king of cochin
- portuguese school
- portrait of a gentleman
- flemish school
- the lamentation of christ
- antwerp school
- german school
- return from the flight to egypt
- maarten de vos
- view of a city in winter
- louis de caulery
- the garden of eden
- lucas cranach the elder
- christ blessing the children
- lucretia
- lucas cranach the younger
- portrait of a young gentleman dressed in black and gold
- portrait of charles de la rochefoucauld, count of randan
- portrait of a bearded man
- corneille de lyon
- corneille de lyon
- the madonna with the cushion
- pieter coecke van aelst
- portrait of henry ii
- françois clouet
- portrait-diptych of a bourgeois couple, probably from cologne, with the portrayal of a memento mori on the other side
- bartholomeus bruyn
- the st. michel inn
- winter landscape with a bird trap
- peasants warming themselves beside the hearth
- the wedding procession
- the payment of the tithe or the village lawyer
- summer: harvest time
- the wedding feast
- winter landscape with skaters
- the wedding dance outside
- pair of proverbs : the fat peasant and the pedlar and a man sitting in front of a barrel and eating
- pieter brueghel the younger
- pieter brueghel iii
- flight into egypt
- christ appears to mary magdalene or noli me tangere
- the leaving of the stagecoach
- river landscape with a view of antwerp
- jan brueghel the younger
- christ in profile
- dirk bouts
- still life with an overturned basket of flowers
- johannes bosschaert
- bouquet of flowers in a vase placed on a table covered with fruits and shells
- ambrosius bosschaert the younger
- the temptation of st anthony
- hieronymus bosch
- view of venice: arrival of the bucentaur in san nicolò di lido, on ascension day
- a collector’s cabinet
- four views of venice: regatta on the grand canal; carnival on st. mark’s square; the bucentaur on the riva degli schiavoni; the bucentaur at san nicolò
- departure of the bucentaur towards the venice lido, ascension day
- giuseppe bernardino bison
- the grand kermesse of saint george
- pieter balten
- winter landscape with city dwellers and ice skaters
- hendrick avercamp
- allegory of abundance
- hendrik van balen
- country road with travellers and a wagon
- joost de momper
- country landscape with travellers
- landscape with travellers on a country road
- jan brueghel the elder
- artists
- panoramic landscape with the return of the cattle to the village
- old masters collection
- old masters gallery
- alexander calder
- tefaf 2017
- flashback 2016
- tefaf new york 2016
- biennale paris 2016
- winter antiques 2016
- frieze 2015
- biennale paris 2014
de jonckheere old masters
introduction
The taste for individual portraits, painted from life or copied, appeared in the middle of the 14th century in Europe and continued to increase during the following centuries. In France, this trend was justly represented by the Fouquets. Jean Fouquet, responsible for the Portrait of Charles VII kept at the Louvre, was also the first artist to provide a model for royal portraiture.
Henri II (1519-1559) reigned from 1547 to 1559. He was the son of Francis I and Claude of France, and married Catherine de Medici in 1533. He pursued his father’s policies and joined forces with the German protestant princes to weaken the power of his Spanish rival, Charles V. Under his reign, the Guises played a leading role. To fight against the advance of Calvinism, he signed the Edict of Ecouen (1559), whereby heretics faced the death penalty. At court, he favoured the literary and artistic Renaissance. His mistress, Diane de Poitiers, for whom he built the Château d’Anet, had a strong influence over him. He died from an injury he suffered during a tournament.
When Francis I ascended to the throne, the tradition of the court portrait was still in its infancy. Sovereigns now felt the urgent need to finally establish a royal iconography, which was defined by Jean Clouet. The father of François, he established codes and models for royal portraits. From this point onwards, this new genre became a speciality in France; our Portrait of Henry II is indeed a fine example of this genre. Under his reign, the notion of individualism introduced through humanism and Protestantism, significantly developed the fashion of portrait painting. The clothing is more sober in order to better define the face and the expression. Here, and just like the life-size version in the Uffizi in Florence, the king is dressed in a black and gold doublet. He is wearing the chain of the Order of Saint Michael and is wearing a hat with feathers. The broad white collar embroidered with gold emphasises his beard and enhances his face’s complexion.
Here, François Clouet uses the precepts acquired in his father’s studio, while cultivating his own style. He combines the elegance of his stroke, the refinement of the rendering, the sense of hieratic deportment, tempered by the face’s curves, with the intensity of the expression. The most singular aspect of his manner of painting is the distance he manages to maintain between the universe of his characters and that of the viewer. These pictorial characteristics are indubitably present in our portrait.
Provenance :
Comte de Beaupré collection, Nancy;
Private collection.