Pierre
DuMustier

One of the most gifted masters of the French pencil portrait of the second half of XVI — early XVII century He is credited with about 65 of portraits. Like his brother Etienne, went with his father Geoffroy Dumoustier, in 1583-1584 was a painter and Valet of king Henry III, and since 1586 — an artist of the Queen mother Catherine de ' Medici.

OK. 1569/1570 together with his brother Etienne had been sent by Catherine de Medici in Vienna, to the court of Emperor Maximilian II, not only as an artist, but with an important diplomatic mission.

Influenced by Francois Clouet and masters of the Fontainebleau school. His work involves a new stage in the development of French portrait. The artist seeks not only seems to reproduce the appearance of the model, its character, but also to capture the psychological state of the person. In Portrait of brother (1569, St. Petersburg, State. The Hermitage) Etienne presents immersed in meditation, we have before us a complex, multifaceted character. Pierre Dumoustier makes an attempt to convey a variability of the inner world, the life of the soul, creates a charming and profound image of a young man of his time. Preserved another Portrait of Etienne (C. 1570, St Petersburg, State. The Hermitage), where he presented anxious, as if saddened — here you can talk about the creation of a lyrical image.

The work of Pierre Dumoustier amazing variety of characters depicted, mental state, attitude to life: alertness comes through in the eyes of the Duke d'alençon, (C. 1572, Paris, NAT. library); the distrust, the secrecy, deceit veiled in the person of the Duchess de Guajes (CA. 1576, London, British Museum); strong active character revealed in the guise of the head of the Spanish garrison in Paris (C. 1593, Saint Petersburg, GOS. The Hermitage). Complex, full of contradictions the image of a man appears in the Portrait of the unknown (C. 1570, St Petersburg, State. The Hermitage). The Hermitage has a wonderful collection of French pencil portraits.