Franco-Flemish composer. Known particularly for his motets, A singer in Nesle from 1477, maitre de chapelle there from 1483; subsequently active in Amiens (from 1500), then in Grenoble (from 1501). From 1502 associated with the French royal court, at first serving Queen Anne of Brittany, then François I. Many of his motets are occasional works, clearly written by the official court composer for significant events in the life of the royal family. He may have edited the Medici Codex, an official gift from François I to Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino. He derived some income from benefices at St. André in Grenoble and, late in life, St. Quentin. His compositions were among the favorites of Pope Leo X, who appointed Mouton an apostolic notary. Adrian Willaert was his student.
Mouton's music includes about twenty chansons, fifteen Masses, several Magnificats, and, his most important works, over 100 motets. Petrucci issued one book of the Masses (1515) and Le Roy & Ballard a posthumous book of motets (1555). Other works were printed in anthologies or survive in manuscript. These compositions show an impressive mastery of contrapuntal techniques, especially canon, and a predominance of contrapuntal textures. Many pieces employ borrowed material of some sort, whether used as a cantus firmus, paraphrased, or parodied; a few are freely composed.