Jean Perréal

1455 – 1530

Jean Perréal, also called Jean de Paris, French painter, architect, and sculptor. He was the most important portrait painter in France at the beginning of the 16th century. Perréal was a court painter to the Bourbons and later worked for Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I of France. He traveled to Italy several times between 1492 and 1530 and in 1514 visited London, where he painted a portrait of the princess Mary Tudor. Perréal designed tombs, medals, and public ceremonials. A painting of Charles VIII of France and a miniature, Pierre Sala, are probably the most important works now attributed to him. Perréal was a superb craftsman who in his portraits grafted a French elegance of design and presentation onto conventional Flemish realism. He was an accomplished designer of tombs, medals, theater scenery and ceremonies, including the marriage of King Louis XII and his second wife Mary Tudor. Working in a glazed paint pigment on glass, he also crafted a unique portrait of Louis XII, entitled Louis XII of France in Prayer (Walters Art Museum). As a sculptural designer, Perréal sketched the design for the tomb of Francis II, Duke of Brittany, which was executed by the French sculptor Michel Colombe, and is now in the cathedral of Nantes.

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