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Clouet Drawings from the Collection
of Catherine de Medici: Portraits of the Valois Court” promises to
be a major art-world event in 2011. In addition to spotlighting
16th-century drawing by displaying some one hundred works on paper
by the art’s founding practitioners, the exhibition will feature one
of the most beautiful selections from the Duke of Aumale’s collection, compiled in part by Catherine de Medici
herself, which is usually protected from daylight and hidden from
public view.
On Wednesday, March
23, 2011, the Condé Museum of the Chantilly Domain will open its
doors to art lovers and collectors, many of whom will be gathered in
Paris
for the Salon du dessin. Visitors eager to view these rare
examples of an emerging art form have until June 27.
 During the 16th
century, Jean Clouet and his son François, both painters for the
French royal court, made portrait drawing into a true art form in
its own right, transforming it from a preparatory stage of painting
to a finished work of art. Major figures from the Valois court, that
is, the kings François I, Henri II and François II as well as
members of their entourage, were captured by these portraitists, who
used a subtle mixture of black and red chalk to draw their subjects
from life. The composition of these drawings is extremely simple and
captivatingly modern: the poses are either full face or three
quarter, emphasizing the subject’s expression and faces are framed
by several decorative touches, a detailed hair style or head
covering and the sketched outline of clothing over the bust. While
unquestionably inspired by Flemish art (Jean was almost certainly
born in Brussels), they also show the influence of Florentine
mannerism.
Thanks to the work
of Jean and François Clouet, drawing became an independent
 activity
during the artistic flowering of the 16th century. Drawing was
attractive because of its freedom and became an art form favoured by
courts and individuals, as attested by Giorgio Vasari, who declared
it the “father of the three arts” in his seminal book Le Vite de’piu
eccellenti Pittori, Scultoried Architettori, first published in
1550. The Condé
Museum’s impressive collection of 366 portraits drawn by Jean and
François Clouet is unique in the world for both its quality and
consistency. The great majority of these works are from one of the
world’s very first collections of well-known graphic art, which was
noteworthy for having been put together by Catherine de Medici,
Queen of France.
With true passion,
the queen commissioned and collected over 550 portraits drawn by the
finest artists of her time. Carefully stored in boxes and labeled
with the name of the model, these works on paper reveal an intimate,
delicate aspect of Catherine’s personality, showing her to have been
a careful observer and demanding collector.
Her drawings were
left to her granddaughter, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and were
kept in Florence with the Medici, before being sold by an art dealer
to English collectors in 1737. The Duke of Aumale, owner of
Chantilly and a major 19th-century collector, acquired most of them
in 1889 from the Carlisle collection, thus initiating their return
to their country of origin.
The Chantilly
Domain has therefore elected to offer visitors a look at part of the collection, which is of historic significance in more than one way,
by displaying works on paper that have been completed restored with
the support of the Friends of the Condé Museum and the participation
of American Friends of
Chantilly.
While the exhibition is unquestionably a
testament to the artistic flowering of the French Renaissance, it also offers a thrilling look at the vivid
characters who populated the Valois court (Anne de
Montmorency, Constable of France and builder of
Chantilly’s petit château; Admiral Gaspard de Coligny,
assassinated during the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre; Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King
Henri II; and court jesters like Triboulet and
Thonin). Accompanying the exhibition is a scholarly
catalogue written by historian and art historian Alexandra Zvereva, published by Arthena.
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Practical
Information
Opening hours –
high season (after April 2, 2010):
Open daily, except
Tuesdays, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Opening hours – off
season (after November 1, 2010):
Open daily, except
Tuesdays, 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Admission: 12 euros
(adults)
Free admission for
every child under 18 accompanied by an adult
Information: Tel.:
03 44 27 31 80,
Website:
Follow this link for information online...
Directions
Chantilly is less
than one hour from Paris and only 20 minutes from
Roissy-Charles-De-Gaulle Airport. By car: from Paris, take the A1 freeway,
Chantilly exit 7; from Lille, take the A1 freeway, Senlis exit 8, or
the A16 freeway, Champagne-sur-Oise exit. By train and rapid
transit: the Chantilly-Gouvieux station is 25 minutes from Gare du
Nord on the SNCF mainline or 45 minutes from Châtelet les
Halles on the RER line D.
Photo Credits (top
to bottom
-
Portrait de François Ier jeune, d’après
François Clouet (vers 1515 – 1572) inventaire PE-241, Chantilly,
musée Condé © RMN/ Harry Bréjat
-
François Clouet, Marguerite de France,
reine de Navarre (1553-1615), inventaire MN-42, Chantilly, musée
Condé © RMN/ René-Gabriel Ojéda
-
François Clouet, François de
Coligny, seigneur d’Andelot, vers 1555,inventaire MN 295,
Chantilly, musée Condé © RMN/ René-Gabriel Ojéda
-
D’après Jean
Clouet, Henri II, roi de France
(1519-1559), inventaire PE-259, Chantilly, musée Condé © RMN/
René-Gabriel Ojéda
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