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| Map of medieval Paris, superimposed on Paris today. |
Paris, Dijon and the Loire
Tutor: Jo Walton
During the 1300s, Paris was the largest city in Europe, with an estimated population of over
220,000. As a royal centre it was home not only to the French king, but also to a group of
wealthy Royal Dukes and leading churchmen who maintained lavish households and demanded
the very best of everything. Paris, with its markets and merchants, became a centre that could
supply whatever the discerning elite might require, whether it was delicious food, dazzling
costumes or glamorous gems, sourced from across the continent.
Parisian goldsmiths and jewellers were famous around the world. Such was the appetite for
luxury goods in the city that manuscript illuminators and painters came from the artistic centres
of the Low Countries and beyond, working in the delicate, decorative International Gothic Style.
But Paris was also the capital of a country at war. Long-standing disputes between the royal
houses of France and England led to the Hundred Years War, played out between 1337 and
1453. His episodes of mental illness (which included homicidal rages and periods when he
thought he was made of glass and might break) helped to destabilise the throne. Charles VI, led
to further instability and after his death, in 1422, a power vacuum resulted in an English Regent
trying to rule France on behalf of the infant English monarch, Henry VI. The rich and powerful
had no reason to remain in Paris without the royal court and, even once the French throne was
again secure, the elite did not return immediately to the declining city – preferring regional
centres such as Dijon, Bourges, Blois and Amboise.
It was not until the reign of Francis I that the fortunes of Paris began to revive. Here was a king
determined to use the possibilities of patronage to bolster his position and show the world that
he was as powerful a figure as his rival monarchs, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and
England’s King Henry VIII. His experiences as a captive in Italy and Spain, after the Battle of Pavia
in 1525, gave him a first-hand taste of the cultural world of Renaissance Italy and he eagerly
employed Italian painters, architects, and sculptors, including Leonardo da Vinci, to help him
create palaces and chateaux in the new, classical, Renaissance style.
Aims
- Consider the context of art production in France during the 15th and 16th centuries and see how warfare and political events affected artistic production
- Meet some of the major artists and patrons working in France and see how the artworks they commissioned change across the period
- See how humanist ideas, developed from classical writings and philosophy, gradually affected the art and architecture of 16th century France
Who’s who?
Charles VI, King of France (1368–1422)
King of France from 1380 to 1422. He inherited the throne at 12 years old, so his uncles (see
below) acted as Regents of the kingdom. His episodes of mental illness (which included
homicidal rages and periods when he thought he was made of glass and might break) helped to
destabilise the throne. After the English won the battle of Agincourt, in 1415, his daughter was
married to the victor – King Henry V – with the intention of their offspring uniting the two
thrones of England and France. (Spoiler alert – things didn’t work out that way!)
Jean, Duke of Berry (1340 – 1416)
One of the many sons of King John the Good of France, and an uncle to Charles VI. Along with
his brother, Philip of Burgundy, he acted at various points as part of the Regency, governing
when Charles VI was too young or too ill. An avid collector with a lavish lifestyle, he owned 17
chateaux in addition to a large residence in Paris. All of these appear in the magnificent Book of
Hours, Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, which he commissioned from the Limbourg
Brothers between 1410 and 1416.
Philip, Duke of Burgundy (1363 – 1404)
Brother of Jean of Berry and another uncle to King Charles VI, Philip Duke of Burgundy was the
most important and richest of the Royal Dukes. His own territories included much of the Low
Countries (what we now think of as Belgium and the Netherlands) after his marriage to
Margaret of Brabant, as well as the Burgundy region itself, centred on Dijon and Beaune. Thanks
to him the region of Burgundy became the artistic centre of Northern Europe, and his heirs
became powerbrokers between France and the Holy Roman Empire.
Francis I, King of France (1494 – 1547)
King of France from 1515, he determined to bring the Italian Renaissance to France, encouraging
many Italian artists (including Leonardo da Vinci) to come to work for him. As well as planning
to regenerate Paris he built the great chateaux of Fontainebleau and Chambord, bringing a
dynamic new style to French architecture.
Catherine de’ Medici (1519 – 1589)
Great granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent of Florence, Catherine was married in 1533 to
Henry, second son of Francis I, from whom Henry inherited the throne in 1547. Catherine and
Henry had a problematic marriage (maitresse Diana de Poitiers), and of their ten children three of their sons in turn inherited
the throne after their father’s untimely death in 1559. Catherine acted as Regent for nearly
thirty years, steering France through the traumas and complexities of civil war and religious
unrest.
Slide list
1. Map of medieval Paris, superimposed on Paris today. (Image: Courtesy u/Stellarsleeper 2020)
2. Jean Fouquet, The Right Hand of God Protecting the Faithful against Demons, from The Hours of Étienne Chevalier. 1452–1460. Metropolitan Museum, New York
3. Anon, View of a Parisian Market, from Le Chevalier Errant by Thomas de Saluces, c.1403 Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
4. Anon, A Banquet given by King Charles Vth of France, from Les Grands Chroniques de France, 1375–79. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
5. Jean de Bruges (design), The Apocalypse of Angers, tapestry woven between 1377–1382. Chateau d’Angers, Angers)
6. The Limbourg Brothers, July and February from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–16. Musée Condé, Chateau de Chantilly
7. The Limbourg Brothers, January from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–16. Musée Condé, Chateau de Chantilly.
8. The Limbourg Brothers, Images of Paris from June and October from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc deBerry, 1413– 6. Musée Condé, Chateau de Chantilly.
9. The Boucicault Master, King Charles VI of France in conversation, 1411–1413. Bibliotheque de Geneve.
10. Anon, Der Goldenes Rossl, The White Horse in Gold), c. 1400. Altotting Church, Bavaria
12. Francesco di Giorgio, St Dorothy with the Infant Christ, c.1460. National Gallery, London.
13. Gentile da Fabriano, The Quaratesi Madonna, 1425. National Gallery, London.
14. Anon, Head and shoulders of a Crowned Virgin, 1390–95. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
15. Anon, King Henry V of England, with verses recording his capture of the Duke of Orleans at the Battle of Agincourt, from Sir Thomas Holme’s Book of Arms, 1445–50. British Library, London
16. Anon, The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 from Enguerrand de Monstrelet’s Chronique de France, mid 1450s. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
17. A map of France, c.1477
18. After Jean Malouel (?), Portrait of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (16th century copy after a 14thcentury original). Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon
19. Alexis Piron, The Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, as it appeared in 1686, Municipal Library, Dijon
20. The Well of Moses at it appears today
21. Jean de Baumetz, The Crucifixion with a Carthusian Monk, 1390–95. Cleveland Museum of Art
22. Fra Angelico, Crucifixion with St Dominic, c.1442. Convento di San Marco, Florence
23. Henri Bellechose, The Martyrdom of St Denis, 1416. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
24. Melchior Broederlam, The Dijon Altarpiece, 1393–99. Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon.
25. Jacques de Baerze, Sculpted interior of the Dijon Altarpiece, 1393–99. Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon
26. Jacques de Baerze, The Crucifixion, from the Dijon Altarpiece, 1393–99. Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon
27. Claus Sluter, Moses and Jeremiah from The Well of Moses, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, 1395–1406
28. Donatello, The Head of the Prophet Habakkuk, 1423–26. Museo del Opera del Duomo, Florence
29. Masaccio, The Tribute Money, 1426–27. Brancacci Chapel, Chiesa del Carmine, Florence
30. Claus Sluter, Angels from the Well of Moses, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, 1395–1406
31. Claus Sluter, The Tomb of Philip the Bold, 1390–1406. Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon
32. The palace of Jacques Coeur in Bourges, 1443–51
33. Jean Fouquet, King Charles VII of France, 1445. Musée du Louvre, Paris
34. Jean Fouquet, The Melun Diptych, c.1450
Etienne Chevalier with St Stephen, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
Agnes Sorel as the Virgin Mary, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunst, Antwerp
35. The Chateau of Amboise
36. Anon, Charles VIII of France, c.1500. Musée Condé, Chateau de Chantilly
37. The Master of St Giles, The Mass of St Giles and St Giles and the Deer, c.1500. National Gallery, London.
38. Jean Clouet, King Francis I of France, 1525-30. Musée du Louvre, Paris
39. Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503-5. Musée du Louvre, Paris
40. Raphael, The Oath of Pope Leo III, 1516–17. Vatican Stanze, Vatican Palace, Rome
41. The Chateau of Chambord, with the double-helix staircase, built between 1519–47
42. The Chateau of Fontainebleau
43. The Gallery of Francois Premier, The Chateau of Fontainebleau
44. Rosso Fiorentino, The Royal Elephant, 1534–36. The Gallery of Francois Premier, The Chateau of Fontainebleau
45. Benvenuto Cellini, The Nymph of Fontainebleau, 1542–44. Musée du Louvre, Paris
46. Benvenuto Cellini, The Golden Salt-cellar, 1540–44. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
47. Attributed to Jean Clouet, Marguerite de’ Angloulême, Queen of Navarre, c. 1527. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
48. Master of the Fontainebleau School, Diana the Huntress, 1550–60. Musée du Louvre, Paris
49. Master of the Fontainebleau School, A Lady at her Toilette, 1590s. Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon
50. Titian, The Venus of Urbino, 1538. Uffizi Gallery, Florence
51. Francois Clouet, King Henry II of France, c. 1553. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
52. Francois Clouet, Diane de Poitiers, 1555. Musée Condé, Chateau de Chantilly
53. Francois Clouet, Henry II, Catherine de Medici and their children, date unknown. Uffizi Gallery, Florence
54. The Chateau of Chenonceau
55. The Chateau of Chaumont
57. 18th Century print showing the Tuileries Palace and Gardens
58. Francois Dubois, The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day, 1572, 1572-84. Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts, Lausanne
59. Francois Clouet, Gaspard II Coligny, 1565–70. St Louis Art Museum
60. Jacques Boulbène, King Henry IV of France, c.1600. Musée des Augustins, Toulouse
61. Ambroise Dubois, Henry IV as Mars, 1605-06. Chateau de Pau
