TOUTIN, JEAN; AND TOUTIN, HENRI

(respectively, b. 1578, Chteaudun, Eure-et-Loire, Franced. June 14, 1644, Paris; b. July 28, 1614, Chteaudund. c. 1683, Paris), French enamelworkers, father and son, known for their fine enamel miniature paintings. Jean Toutin was one of the first artists to make enamel portrait miniatures. Although the art of enamelwork was hundreds of years old, the elder Toutin developed a revolutionary new technique for enamel painting. Toutin discovered that coloured enamels, when applied to a previously fired white enamel ground, would not run together when the piece was refired. Existing enamel techniques had relied on small bands of gold to separate the colours or small surface indentations to prevent pigments from blending during firing. Toutin's method enabled the artist to apply enamel to a surface almost as paint is applied to canvas. It also permitted the use of a wider range of colours. Thus was gained the precision of colour and detail that made possible miniature portraits in enamel. The new procedure was laborious, but the works of the Toutins proved popular with French royalty and courtiers. Students came from other parts of the Continent to learn the technique, and the Toutins' art thus spread throughout Europe. It was a particular success in England, where the Swiss-born enamelworkers Jean Pettitot and Jacques Bordier moved after studying with the French masters. Perhaps the most popular of the Toutins' works were their highly elaborate enameled watchcases, in great demand at the court of King Louis XIII, where the Toutins produced enameled miniatures of virtually every member of the French royal family. None of Jean Toutin's work survives today.