Art in Tours in 1500

The art displays highlight the exceptional artistic talents that Touraine harboured under Louis XI, Charles VIII and Louis XII. Thanks to the clientele of the royal family and of noble Touraine families, artistic workshops flourished in Tours between 1450 and 1520, with the notable presence of two brilliant artists, the painter Jean Fouquet and the sculptor Michel Colombe.

 

The room presents some painting, sculpture and stained-glass masterpieces, as well as a collection of local illuminated books from the late 15 ^th century, belonging to the former collection of Tours Municipal Library.

The three acquired works are:

 

Val de Loire art in the 15 ^th and 16 ^th centuries has mainly survived through to today in the form of sculpture, illumination and stained-glass. Very few paintings were spared the vandalism of the Wars of Religion. The two paintings on wood included in the collections of the museum in Tours are therefore of even greater interest because of the rarity of paintings surviving from this time.

 

Note that the room devoted to the schools of Northern Europe has just been rearranged to exhibit a few major works of 15 ^th and 16 ^th century art preserved in the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tours.