IN FOCUS: At the Royal Court of the Valois: French Drawings of the Late Renaissance

IN FOCUS: At the Royal Court of the Valois: French Drawings of the Late Renaissance

As war and bitter religious battles between the Catholics and the Huguenots shook 16th-century France, the court of the last kings of the Valois dynasty presented itself as the centre of a refined lifestyle. Originals and numerous copies of portraits by Jean and François Clouet convey the noble features of important protagonists of courtly society. Antoine Caron’s scenic representations illustrate an ideal picture of cultured court life. Designs for armour by Étienne Delaune give an impression of the chivalrous self-portrayal of the aristocracy and of the fantastical ornamental language of the late French Renaissance.

A concentrated selection of drawings from the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich invites visitors to an encounter with the court of the last of the Valois, and through it, a chapter of European artistic and cultural history rarely addressed in Germany