Portrait of Marguerite de Valois as a child

Localisation : The Clouet Room
Année de création :Circa 1560
Artiste :François Clouet

Description

The Clouets prepared their portraits with charcoal, sanguine or white chalk drawings, sometimes enhanced with ink wash or watercolour. These “crayons” (sometimes synonymous for “portrait”), became works in themselves, collected and kept by the most powerful people in the kingdom, such as King François I or Queen Catherine de Medici. The Condé Museum is home to the preparatory drawing for this beautiful portrait, which translates the vivacity and seriousness of this young princess, later described by chroniclers as a spiritual, cultivated woman, a witness to the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre and a controversial member of court. In this portrait, Queen Margot, the future wife of Henri IV, reveals the luxury of the Valois court in the skilfully rendered lace and lustrous pearls.