Philippe de Champaigne. Le patriarche de la peinture (1602-1674) (PocheCouleur n° 12)

by José Gonçalves

As a portraitist, Philippe de Champaigne was privileged by his period as much as he was by Richelieu. For over fifty years, he responded as an artist to the great movements of his century. With juvenile ardour to the intimidation to Richelieu and the turmoil of Mazarin s conduct, and with disillusionment under Louis XIV reign. He found himself at the forefront of the dramatic events through which a national French identity would emerge.
His enviable position as official painter made him the most perceptive interpreter of people and events. His lucidity and independence of thought were exceptional in his time. He was exclusively a painter, yet insatiably curious about all current techniques and genres. Innovative, though firmly traditional he was a great portraitist and friend to the Jansenists who dismissed the art. His life embodies a great number of seeming paradoxes.

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1995