DUMONSTIER, Pierre

Dumonstier (also spelt Du Monstier; Dumontier; Dumoustier; Du Moustier] was a French family of artists. At least 11 artists of this name are known, working variously as painters, draughtsmen, designers, goldsmiths and sculptors, and active from the 16th century to the 18th. The exact relationships of some family members are difficult to determine; these include Cosme Dumonstier I (d. 1552), a goldsmith known to have worked for Rouen CathedralGLOSSARYThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed.; Étienne Dumonstier I (fl. Rouen, c. 1501), an illuminator working at the château of Gaillon for Cardinal Georges d'Amboise; Cardin (or Carentin) Dumonstier, a sculptor mentioned in the accounts of the Bâtiments du Roi from 1540 to 1550; and Charles Dumonstier, active in the mid-18th century as a painter and engraver: his works include portraits of Louis XV and Marie Leczinska (Paris, Louvre). The main branch of the family began with the painter and illuminator Jean Dumonstier (d. c. 1535), whose son Geoffroy Dumonstier (c. 1510-1573) followed his profession. Another son, Meston Dumonstier (fl. c. 1535), was a goldsmith in Rouen. Geoffroy's sons Étienne Dumonstier II (c. 1540-1603), Pierre Dumonstier I and Cosme Dumonstier II (c. 1545-1605), as well as Cosme and Etienne's respective sons, Daniel Dumonstier and Pierre Dumonstier II (c. 1585-1656), are best known as portraitGLOSSARYThe 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). draughtsmen working for the French court. Daniel's sons Etienne III and Nicolas were also artists. The last member of this branch was Nicolas's son Louis Dumonstier (b. 1641), a mediocre reproductive engraver.

Pierre Dumonstier I was a painter and draughtsman. He was the brother of Étienne Dumonstier II, with whom he collaborated. In 1583 he was appointed Peintre et Valet de Chambre to Henry III and in 1586 to the Queen Mother, Catherine de' Medici. He was the author of more than 40 surviving portrait drawings in red, black and white chalk representing members of the French court (e.g. Henry IV, Catherine de' Medici and Marguerite de Valois; all Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris). His minutely detailed drawing technique, relying on a system of hatchingGLOSSARYIn a drawing, print or painting, a series of close parallel lines that create the effect of shadow, and therefore contour and three-dimensionality In crosshatching the lines overlap., is often uncertain and cumbersome. He made a sketch of himself with his brother Etienne (St Petersburg, Hermitage).