Jean Fouquet

Jean Fouquet (c. 1420-1481) was a French painter and miniaturist from Tours, regarded as one of the most important painters of the transition between the late Gothic and early Renaissance. He is credited as the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature, and he was the first French artist known to have traveled to Italy and directly experienced the early Italian Renaissance. His self-portrait miniature of about 1450 is considered the earliest surviving portrait miniature and possibly the earliest formal self-portrait in Western art.