Cousin, Jean, The Elder

▪ French artist

born 1490, Sens, Fr.

died 1560/61, Paris

 French painter and engraver whose rich artistic contribution also included tapestry, stained-glass (stained glass) design, sculpture, and book illustration.

      A man of many accomplishments, Cousin worked as an expert geometer in his native village of Sens in 1526 and designed a walled enclosure for the city of Courgenay in 1530. The same year he repaired a clock and restored a tableau representing the Virgin for the cathedral of Sens. Cousin created several stained-glass windows in the chapels of Saint-Eutrope and Notre-Dame de Lorette, both of the Sens cathedral. In about 1540 Cousin ventured to Paris, where he soon qualified as a master painter and citizen of Paris. In 1540 he helped design the decorations in honour of the Holy Roman emperor Charles V's entry into Paris. In 1541 he was commissioned to design three models of tapestries commemorating the life of St. Geneviève, and in 1543 he painted eight cartoons of tapestries depicting scenes from the life of St. Mammès. In 1549 he designed a portal in front of the Chatelet to honour the entry of Henry II into Paris. Cousin also painted the life of St. Germain and in 1557 was commissioned to design stained-glass windows for the hospital constructed by the Parisian goldsmiths. Despite his lengthy and productive career in Paris, he still managed to contribute work to his native city of Sens.

      Few extant works can be definitely attributed to Cousin. The painting “Eva Prima Pandora,” now in the Louvre, is generally agreed to be his; it shows that he was not influenced by the dominant Fontainebleau school, but rather it reflects the influence, among others, of Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer in composition, physiognomy, and lighting. Cousin's Traité de perspective (1560; “Treatise of Perspective”) summarizes his knowledge of art, science, and geometry.

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