Jean Duvet - Life

Life

He was born the son of a Dijon goldsmith in 1485, presumably in Dijon itself, which until a decade before had been part of the independent state of the Duchy of Burgundy. He became a master of the Dijon goldsmith's guild in 1509, and may have travelled to Italy in about 1519; this is purely an inference from his prints, which show considerable Italian influence. His first dated print is from 1520, although others are probably earlier. A misunderstanding of the nature of a pilaster in this print, which shows a putto wrapped round one as though it were a thin sheet, unattached to the wall behind, perhaps suggests that his understanding of the Italian style was derived purely from prints, books and other objects brought back to France. Although he remained in the provinces, he was appointed goldsmith to both Francis I and Henry II. The first of these appointments was on the occasion of the King's visit to Langres, where he was already living, in 1521; he had been involved in the decorations for the Royal Entry. By the next royal visit, in 1533, he was in charge of the festivities and decoration. The influence of pageant tableaus and scenery has been detected in his prints. No identified examples of his goldsmithing survive, though commissions for Francis I and others are documented.

He died, probably in Langres, after 1562, when he is recorded as attending a town meeting there.

A Jean Duvet from Dijon is also recorded working as a goldsmith in Calvinist Geneva from 1540–56, but most scholarly opinion now believes that this was someone else, probably his nephew. The question perhaps cannot be regarded as entirely settled. The Geneva Duvet was recorded as the son of "Loys Duvey, alias Drot de Dijon", probably Jean Duvet's brother, who became a Master in 1509. Eisler and Blunt favour the Geneva figure being Duvet himself, followed by Marqusee; Zerner and R. May do not. Yet another Jean Duvet, working as a goldsmith in Geneva, was condemned to death for extortion in Geneva in 1576. The (earlier) Geneva Duvet is rather better documented, working for the city authorities in a number of capacities, and holding official office. Both Langres and Dijon were strongly Catholic centres during the period before the Wars of Religion, and Duvet is recorded in Langres as member of a militant Catholic lay fraternity founded in 1548. If his religious views changed Langres might well have been an uncomfortable place to remain. The Lyon printer of the Apocalypse, Jean de Tournes, moved to Geneva soon after printing the work. On the other hand, it is hard to reconcile the Geneva theory with his appointment as goldsmith to Henry II, who reigned from 1547, and the three plates celebrating Henry and the "mystique of divine monarchy" in extravagant terms, which may celebrate the re-dedication of the Order of Saint Michael by Henry in 1548. No less than three Duvet engravings depict the Suicide of Judas, an exceptionally rare subject outside full cycles of the Passion of Christ, suggesting a "passionate interest in the subject", which may connect with personal religious struggles. Eisler dates these three to 1527 at the end of Duvet's career.