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Paris 1625-1650
In
1610 Henry IV was stabbed to death by an assassin when his coach was caught
in a
Paris
traffic jam. His son Louis XVIII became king at the age of nine; during
his minority his mother Marie de’ Medici, and then *Cardinal Richelieu,
who became first minister in 1624, ran France from the capital. The monarch’s
residence
at this time was still the Louvre. Richelieu repeatedly staved off attempts
by members of the court to usurp his and the king’s position, while lavishing
money on impressive houses and a superb art collection.
Painters
such as - Simon Vouet and - Lubin Baugin, returning to work in Paris after
a visit to Italy, imported fresh
artistic
influences to the city. Other artists came from the provinces; the - Le
Nain brothers were from Laon.
Louis
XIV (1638-1715) was crowned king in 1643; during his minority Cardinal
Mazarin ran the country while factions
fought
for power in Paris. The stark and unidealised nature of the Le Nain
brothers’ genre works, akin
to
the paintings of contemporary artists from the Netherlands, was novel for
the period in France. They give a unique view
of
the lives of the poor in French society. Vouet spent 13 years working in
Rome before returning to Paris in 1627. The style
he
formulated there was soon favoured by Louis XIII and the courtiers, whose
town houses the artist decorated; this canvas is probably from a series
painted for Claude Bullion, minister of finance. Champaigne’s portrait
of Richelieu is
similar
to a lost work painted for the Palais Cardinal. The sitter commissioned
from Poussin a series of important Bacchanals, of which The Triumph
of Pan is one. Champaigne, who was from Brussels, was very successful in
Paris, attracting
many
patrons; the Vision of St Joseph for the church of the Minimes shows the
influence of Rubens in the facial types.
After the Bath
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Ceres
and Harvesting Cupids, Simon VOUET (Studio), about 1634
Cardinal
Richelieu CHAMPAIGNE about 1637
Triple
Portrait of Cardinal Richelieu, CHAMPAIGNE, 1642
Four
Figures at Table Louis? LE NAIN probably 1630s
The
Vision of Saint Joseph, CHAMPAIGNE, about 1638
A
Woman and Five Children, Antoine? LE NAIN, 1642
The
Triumph of Pan Nicolas POUSSIN 1636
The
Adoration of the Shepherds, LE NAIN Brothers, about 1640
Three
Men and a Boy Louis? LE NAIN probably 1640s
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