Jean Boucher de Bourges

1568–1633, Bourges

Little is known about the training the painter, Jean Boucher, underwent. In 1596 he travelled to Italy, where he was active in Florence and Rome. In 1600 he returned to Bourges and there is documentary evidence that he was in Fontainebleau in 1602. Enjoying success as a painter in Bourges, he received numerous commissions, including one for a series of portraits of the monarch Henry IV for his native town. Boucher ran a flourishing studio and was the first to teach the young Pierre Mignard.