Erik Inglis

This is a beautifully illustrated study of the work and significance of Jean Fouquet, probably the most famous French artist of the fifteenth century. Erik Inglis argues that Fouquet's work was a key part of the late medieval "invention of France"—that his art created a kind of visual nationalistic vocabulary in support of the Valois' claim to power during the Hundred Years' War. Inglis' claims in his last chapter—that Fouquet's contemporaries and immediate successors understood him as show more "a great French artist, one who created a French way of depicting French things"—are more provocative than wholly convincing, based on the evidence advanced. Still, an interesting read and a feast for the eyes. show less