PICHORE, Jean - b. ~1480 Paris, d. ~1530 Paris - WGA

PICHORE, Jean

(b. ~1480 Paris, d. ~1530 Paris)

French illuminator, designer of manuscripts and printed books. He was active in Paris, although Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, archbishop of Rouen, was one of his major clients. Therefore, his style had been mistakenly referred to as ‘School of Rouen’. Pichore is documented as having worked on two manuscripts, the first volume of Augustine’s De civitate Dei of c. ¹⁵⁰¹⁄₀₃ (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale) and the Chants royaux for Louise of Savoy of 1517 (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale). Pichore managed a large family enterprise that was responsible for the illumination of a great number of classical, secular, and theological texts. He also played an important role in the market for printed books by providing Renaissance designs.

Characteristic of Pichore and the artists working in his style are heavy figures clothed in voluminous drapery and watercolour-like, transparent landscapes.

Anne of Brittany Receiving a Manuscript

This miniature depicts Anne of Brittany receiving from Antoine Dufour the manuscript praising famous women.

The ornate manuscript presented to Anne of Brittany by Antoine Dufour, Les vies des femmes c�l�bres was written in 1504 then illuminated by Jean Pichore, Parisian artist, by 1506. Dufour states in his prologue that Anne commissioned the manuscript, but beyond this detail, the role of the queen played in the production remains unknown. We are unable to ascertain, for example, if Anne specified how Dufour was to represent the women in his text or which women he was to include. A careful investigation of both the text and the images of the manuscript shows that the author and the artist coordinated their work and that the individuals involved in the production of the codex translated and adapted multiple sources in constructing their manuscript for the queen.

Send Postcard Learn More

Illumination from a Manuscript

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, expanding trade relations and the return of the French court to Paris under Louis XII (reigned 1498-1514) enabled the city to regain both political and artistic leadership. In the opening decades, Jean Pichore was the most successful Parisian illuminator and designer of manuscripts and printed books. Through his work, Pichore contributed to the success and popularity in France of Renaissance themes.

The illumination shown in the picture comes from a manuscript of ‘De remediis utriusque fortunae (On the Remedies of One and the Other Fortune) by Petrarch. Cardinal Georges d’Amboise, a powerful figure at the court of Louis XII, appears on the illumination behind the king at the head of a long procession of courtiers approaching the throne of the goddess Fortune. Wearing a sad expression, the king points to his wife, Anne de Bretagne, “queen without a son”, who holds in her lap the young princess Claude, then four years old.

Send Postcard Learn More