Portrait of a Man (Guillaume Farel?)

Active in the 1520s–70s, Léonard Limousin tran­scended the traditional boundaries of his profes­sion, achieving international fame. Introduced at the court of Francis I at Fontainebleau in the 1530s, he was named “enameler to the king” by Henry II in 1548. Signed ll and dated 1546, this plaque may depict Guillaume Farel (1489–1565), one of the leading figures, along with John Calvin (1509–1564), of the Protestant Reformation. It could well have been made to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of Farel’s conversion of most of western Switzerland, including Geneva and Lausanne.

Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.