Photo. Giraudon.
LOUIS XII. (ABOUT 1514). ODET DE FOIX.
Attributed to Jean Perréal. Attributed to Jean Perréal.
Musée Condé.
To face page 2.
Furthermore, the so-called Tournois tapestry, which may be assigned to the beginning of the sixteenth century, seems to reveal Jean Perréal’s style. It is important to notice that documentary evidence proves that Perréal presided as Master of the Revels on the occasion of the State Entry into Lyons of Philip le Beau and his wife, Jeanne la Loca; on which occasion they were received with great pomp by Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne. We learn that he executed decorations for these festivities, and it is therefore not impossible that his designs may have been subsequently used for the tapestries in question, since they present to us Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne with their Royal guests and numerous suite.
Thus historical record also would seem to favour the theory which we have endeavoured to establish—namely, that Jean Perréal as stated worked with pencil and chalk some time before the appearance upon the scene of Jean Clouet. In spite of the regrettable fact that most of his work has either been swept away by time or is still attributed to other artists enough evidence remains, if one will only accept it, of an activity which it is not easy to discount.
Perréal is also mentioned in Royal Accounts as an architect and sculptor in the service of Anne de Bretagne, who entrusted to him the design for a tomb for her parents, François, Duc de Bretagne, and his wife Marguerite de Foix, at Nantes—a monument subsequently executed by Michel Colombe. The graceful angels who keep watch over the dead and the noble figures of Justice and Temperance are silent tokens of Perréal’s ability. He was also consulted by that noble patroness of the Arts, Margaret of Austria, in connection with the tomb at Brou of her husband, Philibert of Savoy, and for this monument also some of his designs were used.