The Luminous Legacy of Jean Petitot the Elder In the delicate, shimmering world of seventeenth-century miniature portraiture, few names command as much reverence as Jean Petitot the Elder. A master of the rare and demanding medium of enamel painting, Petitot did not merely capture faces; he captured the very essence of royal prestige upon surfaces of metal and glass. Born in Geneva around 1607, his journey was one of profound technical mastery and geographical movement, spanning the courts of France, Italy, and England. As a pioneer who elevated enameling from a decorative craft to a high ar…