Jean Fouquet, known primarily for his
masterpiece 'Virgin and Child', is a French artist from the 15th
century with interesting and unusual origins. He was a pioneer in many ways,
being the first painter of his country to travel to Italy to
experience the Italian Renaissance first-hand, he is also the
supposed inventer of the portrait miniature. This kind of avant-garde
way of thinking was born when Jean fused his influences, namely the
Flemish and Tuscan styles of painting, and created his own unique
brand.
Though Jean's works are to this day
very unique, when one studies his background you can literally point
out all the different elements of his work and understand where and
when he learned them. For example the precise lines and colouring of
the above image 'The Nativity' were certainly acquired from the
skills he learned as a master limner and miniaturist.
As a storyteller I find that his panel painting
works, such as the one I've put in this article, are the most
enchanting. Going completely against the grain of the 15th
century's accepted standards of artistic merit, Fouquet does not pay much
to any attention to the fine-detailing of the individual characters,
their emotions, their tragedy, their symbolism, but instead treats
all those who fall inside his canvass as one big character, one big
story to be expressed as a whole.
'The Nativity' is all about story, it
isn't about Mary's thoughts as she keeps her baby safe in a barn,
even the border seems to suggest a disconnection from the actual
events of these human beings, we're not meant to be seeing them for
who they really are, we're not meant to feel like we're right there with them, we're seeing the story of it all and the
grandeur beauty of a famous, immortalized tale.
Fouquet found a sense of art in visual
storytelling rather than in romantic symbolism, this was one of the
many oddities that made him great. It was simply not done in those days, stories were stories and paintings were paintings, they were both ways of expressing ideas and exploring human society, but Fouquet showed that there was a sense of humanity in the actual idea of a story itself, that one moment captured in time and passed through the ages is something that reflects our nature.
As a writer, I am inspired by the way
he combined his influences to make something great. It's a very
tricky thing to discuss when it comes to artistry, where it comes
from, and if somebody can ever be truly original? Every bit of
Fouquets works can be pinpointed to a time in his life where he would
have learned a particular skill from some other movement, but in the
end, using all of these ideas, he created something truly original.
Art isn't created in a vacuum, and this legendary painter is a great
example of that.
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