Jean Cousin the Younger ("le jeune", sometimes given as
Jehan Jehan is a male given name. It is the old orthography of Jean in Old French, and is rarely given anymore. It is also a variant of the Persian name Jahan in some South Asian languages.
People with the given name Jehan
* Jehan Adam (15th century) ...
in the old style instead of Jean) (ca. 1522–1595) was born in
Sens
Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris.
Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second city of the d ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
around 1522, the son of the famous painter and sculptor
Jean Cousin the Elder
Jean Cousin (1500 – before 1593) was a French painter, sculptor, etcher, engraver, and geometrician. He is known as "Jean Cousin the Elder" to distinguish him from his son Jean Cousin the Younger, also an artist.
Career
Cousin was born at ...
ca. 1490–ca. 1560) who was often compared to his noted contemporary,
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
. Having trained to become an artist under his father, Jean the Younger showed as much talent as his father, and their work is nearly indistinguishable even to the expert. Just before his death, Jean the Elder published his noted work ''Livre de Perspective'' in 1560 in which he noted that his son would soon be publishing a companion entitled, ''Livre de Pourtraicture''.
While there have been some reports that an edition of ''Livre de Pourtraicture'' was first printed in 1571 and again in 1589, no copies appear to exist. Instead, the most likely first printing of the work was 1595 in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
by
David Leclerc
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, with
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s engraved by
Jean Leclerc, just after Jean the Younger's death. The book is one of the most famous on the subject of
artistic anatomy
While there is significant variation in anatomical proportions between people, certain body proportions have become canonical in figurative art. The study of body proportions, as part of the study of artistic anatomy, explores the relation of th ...
and was printed again and again into the late 17th century.
Sources
* Adapted from public domain text a
Jehan Cousin le jeune Biography Historical Anatomies on the Web. US National Library of Medicine.
References
Choulant, L. ''History and bibliography of anatomic illustration.'' Trans. and annotated by Mortimer Frank. (New York: Hafner, 1962). p. 359.
''Dictionnaire de biographie francaise.'' (Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1933- ). Entry for: Cousin, Jehan.
Mortimer, R. ''Harvard College Library Department of Printing and Graphic Arts catalogue of books and manuscripts.'' (Cambridge, Mass., Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press, 1964- ). French Books, Vol. 1, p. 199.
External links
Selected pages scanned from the original work, his ''Livre de pourtraiture'' (Paris: Jean Leclerc, 1608).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousin Jean, The Younger
French Renaissance painters
1595 deaths
People from Sens
Year of birth unknown