François Dubois (; 1529 – 24 August 1584) was a French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

painter of the Fontainebleau School.

Biography

Dubois was born around 1529 in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

, in the province of

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

. He was likely related to the anatomist

Jacques Dubois Jacques Dubois ( Latinised as Jacobus Sylvius; 1478 – 14 January 1555) was a French anatomist. Dubois was the first to describe venous valves, although their function was later discovered by William Harvey. He was the brother of Franciscus Sy ...

. Dubois fled France following the

St. Bartholomew's Day massacre The Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre () in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed ...

in 1572, when Catholic mobs killed about 3,000 Protestants (Huguenots) in Paris. It is not known whether he witnessed the event but a possible relative, the surgeon Antoine Dubois, died in the slaughter. He settled in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

in the Protestant

Republic of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of forty-five Municipality, municipalities, and the seat of the governme ...

, where he died on 24 August 1584.

Works

His only surviving work is the best-known depiction of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. A fellow Huguenot refugee, a banker from

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, commissioned the painting to commemorate the event. The painting shows two incidents from the massacre frequently seen in other depictions in

popular prints Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the tot ...

and book illustrations: the body of Huguenot leader

Gaspard de Coligny Gaspard de Coligny may refer to: * Gaspard I de Coligny (c. 1465 - 1522) *Gaspard II de Coligny (1519 – 1572) *Gaspard III de Coligny Gaspard III de Coligny, duc de Châtillon, (26 July 1584 – 4 January 1646) was a French Huguenot, who serv ...

hangs out of a window at the rear to the right, and is also depicted decapitated on the ground under the window, with the Duke of Guise standing behind it. To the left rear,

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Republic of Florence, Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to Henry II of France, King Henry II. Sh ...

, emerges from the

Louvre Palace The Louvre Palace (, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxe ...

and inspects a heap of bodies. Dubois is also known to have painted a picture of the Roman Triumvirate.David Kunzle ''From Criminal to Courtier: The Soldier in Netherlandish Art 1550-1672'' (Brill, 2002) pp. 163–165 (via googlebooks drilldow

of this volume.)

References

Sources

* Martin Schieder, Die göttliche Ordnung der Geschichte. Massaker und Martyrium im Gemälde »La Saint-Barthélemy« von François Dubois, ib: Uwe Fleckner (ed.): Bilder machen Geschichte. Historische Ereignisse im Gedächtnis der Kunst, Berlin 2014, pp. 127–140 (Studien aus dem Warburg-Haus, Bd. 13).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dubois, Francois 1529 births 1584 deaths Artists from Amiens Painters from Hauts-de-France 16th-century French painters Artists from the Republic of Geneva French male painters French Renaissance painters Huguenots