Jean COUSIN le fils (circa 1536 - Paris 1595) Jupiter and Sémélé Pen and brown ink, grayish-beige wash and white gouache highlights. Watermark on the pot with the name "SIMONET", very similar to Briquet 12824 (Champagne and Paris 1555-1557). (Upper corners restored, 10 cm tear in upper left corner, small restoration in upper part at tree branch - 0.5 x 5 cm, small restored hole at Semele's thigh - 0.5 x 0.5 cm, vertical fold in center, some foxing). 24.5 x 37 cm Provenance: From an album with numerous engravings featuring a printed bookplate of Johan Conrad von Reinach 1696, presumably Johan Konrad von Reinach-Hirtzbach (1657 - 1737) Prince-Bishop of Basel. The album also bears an earlier handwritten date: "anno 1616, 3 July / n° 211". Bibliography: D. Cordellier, "Jean Cousin père et Jean Cousin fils : compléments à leurs œuvres dessinés" in Peindre à Paris aux XVe-XVIe siècle, Silvana Editoriale, 2024, p. 291, reproduced. Our drawing is a perfect example of the canons developed by Primaticcio and Nicolò dell'Abbate at Fontainebleau. Jean Cousin le Fils stretches the Bellifontaine mannerism a little further, with a woman's body whose legs never seem to stop. This light grace can also be found in a drawing by Jean Cousin le Fils on the same subject, now in the Hermitage (inv.5603). His drawing tics, notably his work on the hands, are characteristic of Cousin Fils' style, which can also be admired in La Fortune et le Salut, in the Bibliothèque de l'Institut (see : D. Cordellier, "Style et facture des dessins de Jean Cousin Fils" in C. Scailliérez, Jean Cousin Père et Fils, Musée du Louvre, 2013 fig. 269, p. 228). Here, he takes up a theme dear to the Fontainebleau school, around the loves of the gods, of which we know several other examples (see: D. Cordellier, opus quoted above, fig. 271-281). This is the tragic moment when Semele, languid on her bed, awaits her lover. She asks him to show her his true face. Jupiter, unable to resist her, shows his true nature, his thunderbolt and lightning in hand. Faced with the true god, Sémélé can't bear the sight of him, and begins to burn herself. Jean Cousin Fils makes nature vibrate on the verge of a storm. The freshness of the sheet gives the contrast of pen and wash an unusual liveliness: we seem to see the branches and trees quivering under the effect of this incipient storm. Jean Cousin le Fils occupies a prominent place in the history of French Renaissance art. Painter, engraver and theorist, he represents the link between Italian Renaissance art and the emerging French artistic tradition. His theoretical writings, notably "Le Livre de Perspective", are essential contributions to the understanding of the principles of perspective and pictorial art in the French Renaissance. His work influenced many French artists of his time, shaping the development of art in France. His ability to fuse Italian artistic ideas with French tradition helped enrich the artistic landscape of the Renaissance and consolidate his place among the great figures of European art.