About the time that we hear the last of Fouquet we have the earliest
notices of another illuminator who plays an important part in the
illuminations executed for Anne of Brittany, the noble and gifted Queen
of France, and wife, first of Charles VIII. and then of his successor,
Louis XII.
In 1472 Jean Perr?al is entrusted with the glass paintings of the
Carmelite church at Tours. Lemaire, in his _L?gende des V?nitiens_,
calls him a second Zeuxis or Apelles. During the reigns of Charles VIII.
and Louis XII. he is the chief artist of the time: In 1491, and perhaps
earlier, he is engaged in the usual duties of a _valet de chambre_,
_i.e._ designing and preparing the requisite devises, arms, and banners
for public functions. In 1502 he went to Italy. In 1509 his name occurs
in connection with that of Jean Bourdichon, of whom we shall hear more
when we come to the work done for the Queen. In 1523 in the household of
Francis I. he is still _valet de chambre_. Twenty-four years previously
it was as _valet de chambre_ that he prepared the decorations for Louis
XII.'s entry into Lyons. On the death of Anne of Brittany also he
performed similar duties, and again on that of Louis XII. He even came
to England in 1514, sent by Louis XII.
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