Pierre Quesnel () was a 16th-century French artist who worked in Scotland, before returning to Paris with his family after the death of

James V of Scotland James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV a ...

Career

Pierre Quesnel worked in Scotland for

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French people, French noblewoman of the ...

and

James V James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV a ...

. He is listed as an Usher in Guise's household and is identified as the "queen's painter" in the Scottish ''Treasurer's Accounts''. Artists at the French court were sometimes given positions as ushers or valets. Pierre Quesnel, described as "Perys the uscher", was given £10 at the time of Mary of Guise's coronation. According to an inscription on the back of a portrait of his son Nicholas, he married Madeleine Digby in Scotland, and his eldest son the painter

François Quesnel François Quesnel (c. 1543–1619) was a French painter of Scottish extraction. Biography The son of the French painter Pierre Quesnel and his Scottish wife Madeleine Digby, born in Edinburgh while his father worked for Mary of Guise, Quesnel ...

was born in Edinburgh. Other French craftsmen working on the Scottish royal palaces include the woodcarver and metal-worker

Andrew Mansioun Andrew Mansioun, or Mentioun or Manschone or Manson, (d. 1579) was a French artist who worked at the court of James V, King of Scots. He was the master carpenter of the Scottish artillery for Mary, Queen of Scots and James VI of Scotland. Works ...

and the mason Nicolas Roy. Pierre Quesnel was mentioned in the household accounts of Mary of Guise after the death of James V, but seems to have returned to France with his family around the year 1544. His sons Nicolas and Jacques Quesnel were also artists, and a number of chalk portraits by François and Nicolas survive. Jacques's work is known only through a single drawing, ''Time slaying Youth''.

Works

Pierre Quesnel's work is also mostly lost, excepting an ''Architectural Study'' after Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, preserved at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

in Paris, and another drawing, a view called ''Château of

Sées Sées () is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France. It is classed as a Petite Cité de Caractère. Geography The commune is spread over an area of with a maximum altitude of and minimum of It lies on the river Orne fr ...

''. The

Abbé de Marolles Michel de Marolles (22 July 1600, Genillé - 6 March 1681, Paris), known as the abbé de Marolles, was a French churchman and translator, known for his collection of old master prints. He became a monk in 1610 and later was Abbot of Villeloin-Cou ...

, a seventeenth-century French writer, recorded Pierre in verse as the designer of a stained-glass window for the Eglise des Augustins in Paris in 1557, with subject, ''Ascension of Christ with Portraits of Henri II and

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

'', now destroyed. Marolles also stated that Pierre and his son François designed

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to han ...

The historian Andrea Thomas argued from Pierre's small salary as an usher in Scotland that he was a decorative painter rather a portrait artist. In November 1541, Mary of Guise's mother, Antoinette de Bourbon, wrote to thank her daughter for what may have been a portrait miniature James V had sent to her (brought to

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the Southern Brazil, Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitib ...

Mahaut des Essartz Mahaut des Essartz or Mahanet des Essarts was a French courtier in the service of Mary of Guise and Mary, Queen of Scots. She taught the French language to the Scottish queen. Career She was a daughter of Antoine des Essarts, sieur de Saint-Chér ...

), which she called a "diamond", and could have been painted from life:

pour bien faire mes tres humbles mersimens au Roy du dyament quy luy a pleu m'envoyer. Je vous repons se m'a este present bien agreable et que j'ayme aultant qu'yl est possible; il sera garde toute ma vye pour l'onneur de luy. Je l'ay trouve sy beau sa painture que sy savyes combien je l'ayme je peur vous en series jallouse. And to make my very humble thanks to the King for the "diamond" he sent me. I tell you it is most agreeable and I hold it in highest esteem, it will be kept carefully all my life for his honour. I find his picture so beautiful that if it was known how much, I fear that you would be jealous.

In 1570, a contract was made by Pierre and his son François Quesnel for the decoration of lodgings for the Bishop of Évreux at the

Bois de Vincennes The Bois de Vincennes (), located on the eastern edge of Paris, France, is the largest public park in the city. It was created between 1855 and 1866 by Emperor Napoleon III. The park is next to the Château de Vincennes, a former residence of ...

. The ''devis'' or specification details a white background in distemper and oil paints, for heraldry and inscriptions on freizes and above chimneys, with

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German, as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

patterns. Although these works are destroyed, there is a portrait of Pierre himself made by Nicolas or François in 1574. The 2010 paintwork of the restored palace at

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. The castle sits atop an Intrusive rock, intrusive Crag and tail, crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill ge ...

was designed and created with the story of Pierre Quesnel in mind.John G. Harrison, ''Rebirth of a Palace: The Royal Court at Stirling Castle'' (Historic Scotland, 2011): See 'Stirling Castle Palace Project: An Artistic Alliance' in external links.

Footnotes

External links

* *
Biography of François Quesnel

'Stirling Castle Palace Project: An Artistic Alliance', Historic Environment Scotland.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quesnel, Pierre 16th-century French painters French male painters French Renaissance painters Scottish portrait painters French portrait painters 16th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Renaissance artists 16th century in Scotland Year of death unknown Court of James V of Scotland Year of birth uncertain French tapestry artists Material culture of royal courts 1500s births 1580s deaths Mary of Guise