Circle of Jean Clouet

Joseph Altounian (1890-1954);

Thence by descent in the family;

From whom acquired by the present collector, circa 2000;

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 2 February 2018, lot 109.

An important portraitist at the court of France under François I, Jean Clouet was praised by Pierre de Ronsard ‘the honour of our France’ in the Amours de Cassandre [known in English as ‘Cassandra’]. His works were widely copied, both by his workshop and his contemporaries, to meet a continually growing demand. Portraits, which until then had only been produced in small numbers in France, allowed the nobility and princely families to assert their power and rank.

The model in this panel painting has been potentially identified as François de Compeys, Seigneur de Gruffy (see A. Zvereva, Portraits dessinés de la cour des Valois : les Clouet de Catherine de Médicis, Paris 2011, p. 251, no. 127). Two other portraits in French public collections seem to portray the same individual. The first is an anonymous painting in the Château de Versailles (inv. no. 3141), dated 1538. The second is a preparatory drawing by Jean Clouet in the Musée Condé in Chantilly (inv. no. MN 72), dating to 1535. In the Chantilly drawing, very similar to the present panel, the sitter was first identified as Nicolas de Lorraine, Seigneur de Vaudémont (1524–1577); but although his name appears in the upper part of the composition, it does not match the model’s identity (see P. Mellen, Jean Clouet, Paris, 1971, p. 219, cat. no. 104, pl. 130). The later identification as the Seigneur de Gruffy nevertheless remains uncertain, since he died in Naples in 1528.

This nobleman with fine, narrow facial features wears a coat edged with a fur; a linen chemise with a high frilled collar; a striped pink pourpoint and a black velvet hat with white feathers. The bust-length portrait is in three-quarter view. The panel is a perfect illustration of the French tradition in this genre, which began with Jean Fouquet and the Master of Moulins. The prominent nose, neat beard, almond-shaped eyes and medium-length hair are characteristic traits and hallmarks of the individual’s nobility, as well as of the trend towards individualization that began in the sixteenth century. 

We are grateful to Mrs Alexandra Zvereva for her help in writing this notice.