03 — ARTWORK
Portrait of François I, King of France
- MEDIUM
- Wood, 96 x 74 cm
- TYPE
- Portrait
PALETTE
HOVER OR TAP A SWATCH FOR NAME, SHARE AND HEX. SAMPLED FROM THE IMAGE — INDICATIVE, NOT A PIGMENT ANALYSIS.
THIS REPRODUCTION DOWNLOAD THE FULL FILE ↓
- FILE
- 805 × 1026 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Francis I (1494-1547) became king of France in 1515 while still a young man, and like the German emperor Charles V (emperor 1519-1556) and Henry VIII of England (king 1509-1547) he was always eager to present himself in a setting of great splendour. Clouet's portraitThe Roman portrait bust survived in the form of life-sized reliquaries of saints, but it was in 15th century Florence that the individual features and character of a contemporary sitter were accurately recorded by sculptors such as Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Mino da Fiesole and the Rossellino. A similar degree of realism occurs in 15th century tomb sculpture. The equestrian portrait, based on antique statues such as the Marcus Aurelius monument (Rome, Campidoglio), was revived in the 14th century. Two examples in fresco are Simone Martini's Guidoriccio (c. 1328; Siena, Palazzo Pubblico) and the posthumous portrait of Sir John Hawkwood (1436; Florence, Cathedral) by Uccello, which gives the illusion of a 3-dimensional statue seen from below. The Venetian Republic ordered imposing monuments from Donatello (1447; Gattarnelata, Padua) and Verrocchio (14799; Colleoni, Venice), whilst other statesmen ordered their own images to be erected in public places, directly relating themselves to the military heroes of ancient Rome. Another form of political portraiture derived from antiquity was the commemorative portrait medal designed by artists such as Pisanello. The carved or painted profile portrait became popular in the 1450s. The realism of the clear, flattened image, painted under the influence of Flemish examples by the Pollaiuolo brothers, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli, was superseded by the three-quarter and frontal portrait, psychologically more complex, such as Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (Paris, Louvre) with her momentary smile or Andrea del Sarto's arresting Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery). The 16th century portrait became generalized, Lotto's Andrea Odoni (1527; Royal Collection) being an idealized concept of a collector rather than an individual. Group portraits, decorating whole rooms, include the narrative scenes of the Gonzaga court painted by Mantegna (completed 1474; Mantua, Palazzo Ducale) and the elaborate schemes commissioned by the Farnese family in Rome from Vasari (1546; Palazzo della Cancelleria) and Salviati (after 1553; Palazzo Farnese). Portraits were also incorporated into religious narratives, as in Ghirlandaio's fresco cycle painted for Giovanni Tornabuoni in S. Maria Novella, Florence (1486-90). of Francis had an important role in this. In the unusually large Louvre portrait, Clouet shows Francis I in opulent Renaissance apparel; the traditional insigniathe distinguishing marks or symbols of state or personal offices or honours. of royal majesty were dispensed with, but crowns are woven in to the costly red damask behind the figure of the king.
The painting is one of the masterpieces of Renaissance portraiture. The half length figure of the king is painted in front of a scarlet brocade background. His cap, studded with pearls, is encircled with white feathers. His magnificent black and white striped satin doubletA male garment, formerly worn under armour, that from the 15th century referred to a close-fitting jacket. is lavishly embroidered in gold. A medal of St Michael is suspended on a gold chain around his neck. His right hand, holding gloves, rests on a table with a green velvet cover; his left on a magnificently worked sword hilt. His narrowed blue eyes, his shrewd glance, his dark moustache and beard lend his face a singular attraction. The whole is a telling portrait of a sovereign who was an outstanding personality and a generous Renaissance patron of art.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r087d58f9376069,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Portrait of François I, King of France by CLOUET, Jean},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-09},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/clouet-jean-r9eea8e6bc2a672/portrait-of-franois-i-king-of-france-r087d58f9376069},
urldate = {2026-09-09},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-09. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
