Early Life and Formation in a World of Conflict Jacques Courtois, born Giacomo Cortese in Saint-Hippolyte near Besançon in 1621, emerged into a Europe perpetually shadowed by war. His origins lay within the Franche-Comté region—a territory contested between France and Spain—and this early exposure to political instability and military presence would indelibly shape his artistic trajectory. The Courtois family, though of modest means with his father Jean-Pierre being a painter himself, possessed an ambition that propelled young Jacques towards Italy around 1636 alongside his brothers Guillaum…