Madame de Canaples (Marie d'Assigny, 1502 - 58)

Jean Clouet painted this portrait of Madame de Canaples (Marie d'Assigny) around 1523, depicting a noblewoman of the French court who belonged to the circle around Louise of Savoy, Francis I's mother. Clouet's female portraits for the French court developed a distinctive type that combined Flemish precision in rendering the elaborate dress and jewelry of court fashion with Italian Renaissance conventions of elegant female portraiture. His sitters are shown in three-quarter view with a composed expression that conveyed both personal dignity and the social performance of aristocratic femininity. The careful documentation of fashionable dress—the elaborate embroidery, the jeweled collar, the white linen cap—made Clouet's portraits valuable documents of French court fashion alongside their function as personal commemorations. Now in the Scottish National Gallery.

The portrait displays Clouet's characteristic combination of precise draftsmanship and subtle modeling, which established the standard for French court portraiture. The delicate rendering of the sitter's features and costume reflects the elegance of the Valois court.