One of the last works of François Clouet was a miniature of _Elizabeth
of Austria_, executed in 1572 and destined for her sister-in-law, the
Queen of Spain. The goldsmith Dugardin designed for it a golden frame;
and here also Henri de Mesmes acted as medium, as is shown by a
memorandum referring to it in the handwriting of Catherine de Medicis
herself.
It was in this same year (1572) that the artist died; a year which was
also fatal to Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, who did not live to
attend the nuptials of her son Henri IV with Margot de France. This took
place shortly after her demise and not long before the Massacre of St.
Bartholomew; a terrible event which reveals Catherine de Medicis in a
very different light from that of a connoisseur and collector of works
of art. There is a portrait of her in the Cabinet Clouet at Chantilly
which dates from about this period. From it the bloom of youth has fled,
the face has grown heavier and the smile is more than ever fixed and
conventional.
The ablest contemporary and follower of the Clouets was Corneille de
Lyon; but he in turn developed a decided individuality of his own. By
him are those small portraits, painted upon light-green or light-blue
backgrounds, which may be found scattered throughout the Galleries of
Europe. As already mentioned, a likeness of the _Dauphin François_[129]
at Chantilly (Tribune) has been attributed to him by Gaignières, to whom
it once belonged. It is on the authority of this connoisseur that other
portraits in the Musée Condé exhibiting the same style are by comparison
assigned to him: such, for instance, as _Le Grand Ecuyer de Boisy,
Marguerite de France_ (sister of Henri II), _Madame de Martigné Briant_,
a portrait supposed to be of _Madame de Canaples_, and a portrait of a
young woman, erroneously styled _Claude de Valois_. [An authentic
portrait of this latter lady, attributed to Clouet himself, is at
Munich.] _Madame d'Elboeuf_, presented to the Louvre by the late
Rudolph Kahn, is a fine example of Corneille's skill.
Another artist who followed the Clouet style was Jean de Court, Court
Painter to Henri III, the last of the Valois Kings, whose portrait in
the Cabinet Clouet at Chantilly is probably an example of his work. His
talent is much praised by Desportes; and this likeness of _Henri III_
does not suffer in comparison with the portraits of _Charles IX_
attributed to François Clouet. The pencil drawing of _Marie Touchet_,
Charles IX's mistress, in the Bibliothèque Nationale is also attributed
to him.
[Illustration: PLATE LXX.
FRANÇOIS, DAUPHIN.
_Photo Giraudon._
_Musée Condé._
Corneille de Lyon.]
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