French artist of Flemish origin, and probably the son of another Jean Clouet, a Flemish artist who came to France in about 1460. He is renowned for his superb royal portraits, although no completely verifiable works exist today.

Clouet was appointed chief court painter to King Francis I of France by 1522. While retaining the characteristic Flemish love of detail and finish, he infused his portraits with a cool Italian Renaissance idealism, as in the portrait Francis I (1525?, Louvre, Paris). In a collection of more than 500 red-and-black chalk drawings, all associated with Clouet's atelier, 130 are attributed to his hand. All are portrait studies or finished portrait drawings and reveal Clouet to have been a draftsman equal to his great contemporary, Hans Holbein the Younger. His son, Francois Clouet, a prolific artist who retained the post under four successive Valois kings of France, succeeded Clouet as court painter.