What was the purpose of
the visual image in early-sixteenth century France? Jean Perréal was a
celebrated painter, poet and architectural advisor during this period. As
court artist and valet-de-chambre to three successive French kings, he
was the best documented artist of this time. Yet very few securely attributed
examples of his work survive. What does remain is an extensive series of
documentary accounts attesting to his skills as an artist, but also to his
friendship with French poets and intellectuals. The poet, Pierre Sala, wrote
a treatise on friendship dedicated to Perréal and Jean Lemaire de Belges
described him as a second Apelles.
Jean Perréal’s literary
works frequently deal with visual material and, significantly, they explore
the inherent limitations of the visual. In these works, Perréal unpicks the
rich interstitial space between sign and signifier exploring both the limits
and the potentialities of representation. In an allegorical poem, and
accompanying illumination, Perréal uses a personification of Nature
chastising the errant alchemist, to critique the artifice and ‘singerie’ of
human creation. In this paper I explore Perréal’s written and visual work,
demonstrating that he grappled with important theoretical concepts
surrounding the nature of representation and what it meant to be an artist in
early-sixteenth century France.
Dr
Bryony Coombs is a Teaching Fellow specialising in late-medieval art in
northern Europe. She studied Fine Art as an undergraduate and her doctorate
at Edinburgh University focussed on Franco-Scottish cultural connections
during the late-medieval and early-modern periods: ‘Distantia Jungit,’
Scots Patronage of the Visual Arts in France, c.1445 – c.1545. Her
research interests include text and image relationships in late-medieval
manuscripts.
Her
recent published works include ‘Material Diplomacy: French
Manuscripts and the Stuart Kings of Scotland, Edinburgh University Library,
MS 195’ SHR (2019), and ‘From Dunbar to Rome: John Stuart, Duke of
Albany and his Contribution to the Theory and Practice of Military Science in
Scotland and Italy, 1514-1536.’ PSAS (2019). She
is currently writing a monograph entitled Creating Identities: Visual Arts and
the Auld Alliance c.1450-1550 and beginning a new project on text and
image relationships in early-sixteenth century French manuscripts.