493. Philippe de Champaigne (1602-1674), French,

Cardinal Richelieu, c. 1639. Oil on canvas,

259.5 x 178.5 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Classicism.

 

 

In such a portrait, bigger than nature, Philippe de Champaigne shows his will to get as close as possible to the physical reality of the sitter.

 

 

Philippe de Champaigne

(1602 Brussels – 1674 Paris)

 

Philippe’s link to Rubens is through his teacher, Jacques Fouquières, who was an assistant to that important Flemish painter of the Baroque. After first painting landscapes, Philippe went to Paris in 1621 where he met Poussin. His decoration of churches won the attention of King Louis XIII (1601-1643), as well as Cardinal Richelieu (1595-1642), the powerful statesman who built France into a great power. The artist’s portrait of the Cardinal (1635) is among his masterworks, showing the influences of van Dyck in his full-length portrait style. He in turn introduced Flemish forms to French art. After several personal difficulties and after his daughter, a nun, overcame a serious illness, he painted his most devotional work, Ex Voto of 1662 or Abbess Catherine – Agnes Arnauld and Sister Catherine de Saint-Susanne.