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At the beginning of the sixteenth century, expanding trade relations and the return of the French court to Paris under Louis XII (reigned 1498-1514) enabled the city to regain both political and artistic leadership. In the opening decades, Jean Pichore was the most successful Parisian illuminator and designer of manuscripts and printed books. Through his work, Pichore contributed to the success and popularity in France of Renaissance themes.
The illumination shown in the picture comes from a manuscript of 'De remediis utriusque fortunae (On the Remedies of One and the Other Fortune) by Petrarch. Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, a powerful figure at the court of Louis XII, appears on the illumination behind the king at the head of a long procession of courtiers approaching the throne of the goddess Fortune. Wearing a sad expression, the king points to his wife, Anne de Bretagne, "queen without a son", who holds in her lap the young princess Claude, then four years old.
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