DUVET, Jean

Duvet dedicated twenty-three violent visions of the Apocalypse to Henry II, whose coronation in 1547 and love for Diane de Poitiers inspired the work reproduced here, apparently executed on the occasion of Henry’s rededication of the order of Saint Michael, saint of the church militant, in 1548.

Here Duvet depicts Henry in the guise of Saint Michael, perhaps symbolizing Henry’s role as leader of Catholic France. He stands victorious with his wings outspread, sword in hand, and demon beneath his feet. The pommel of his sword is in the form of a fleur-de-lis, emblem of the French kings, and the figure at the left holds an escutcheon with three fleurs-de-lis. The crescent above Henry’s head - the attribute of the goddess Diana - is a symbol of Diane de Poitiers.

Duvet himself was gripped by the struggle between Catholics and Protestants. He joined a fanatic Catholic fraternity in France and then defected to the enemy in Geneva, where he designed coins, stained glass, and fortifications for the Calvinists.

This is one of the twenty-four engravings illustrating the Apocalypse. The set was published at Lyons in 1561, but the first plate, with a self-portrait of the artist, bears the date 1555, and others may well have been executed before this time. In these compositions Duvet borrows extensively from D�rer’s woodcuts of 1498, and it could even be said that his whole project is based on that of his predecessor.

With the Duvet’s illustrations to the Apocalypse, we are confronted with the works of a religious mystic which sweep us at once into a world which is far removed from the Court of Fontainebleau and carry us back in some ways into the Middle Ages.

This engraving is usually called, not quite accurately, Moses Surrounded by the Patriarchs. Its theme is a variant of one common in medieval cathedral porches, the ancestors and antitypes of Christ, and the arrangement of the figures on truncated columns against a vaulted recess is also a direct echo of the practice of the Middle Ages. In certain details, moreover, the figures seem to go back to medieval models. The Abraham and Isaac group, and the Melchizedek, are both types best known in the north porch of Chartres, and some of the other figures with their cross-legged dancing poses almost suggest that Duvet had in mind models such as the sculptures of Moissac and Souillac.

Duvet developed a highly personal manner of engraving, seen to best advantage in his famous ‘Unicorn’ and ‘Apocalypse’ series to which this print belongs. The abstract and visionary qualities of Duvet’s style are evident here in the rhythmic repetition of forms such as the verticals of the buildings and tree trunks; in the fine, short lines that cover the surfaces of every object to create a shimmering effect; and in the discrepancies of scale, evident in the juxtaposition between the massive Saint John, the tiny fishermen, the floating Fates, and the disproportionately large swimmer who emerges from beneath the bridge.

The weary Evangelist closes his eyes and rests his head on his hand. He points to his completed labours, the Book of the Apocalypse. On the table beside the book rests an engraver’s burin and a tablet inscribed with the words: ‘Jean Duvet Goldsmith of Langres aged 70 made these histories 1555.’ It is clear that the aged man - Saint John is usually depicted much younger - doubles as a representation of the artist himself, and that the harbingers of death that appear in the image allude to the artist and the Evangelist. One of the most poignant of these symbols is the swan who, having broken the golden chain of life, approaches with an arrow in his beak. The swan, an allusion to Duvet’s name (which means ‘down’), was said to sing most sweetly before death. Clearly Duvet regarded this series as his swan song. The inscription above the swan reads: ‘The Fates are pressing, already sight fails, the mind remains victorious, and the great work is completed.’