Simon Vouet

1590 - 1649 • French • Painter • Baroque

"... the restorer of painting" - .C harles Perrault, 1696 -1700

Among the artists drawn to Rome from all over Europe, Vouet arrived in Italy in 1612 and remained until called home to France by King Louis XIII in 1627. During his stay abroad he was elected president of the Roman Academy of Saint Luke. Vouet's work showed the influence of CARAVAGGIO in deriving mood from light and shadow and the BAROQUE idea of emotional engagement, in religious pictures especially. These tendencies were moderated on his return to Paris, where, in the vein of POUSSIN, he softened his style to a tamer, more CLASSICAL one and made his colors lighter and livelier. Vouet played an important role in cultural restoration, as acknowledged by Perrault in the quotation above, excerpted from his book illustrious Men of France During This Century. Vouet's eminence in French painting was briefly challenged during Poussin's return, but when Poussin left again, Vouet's leadership was reestablished, and his commissions were plentiful. Presentation in the Temple, ordered by Richelieu in 1641, with the controlled fervor of its statuesque figures, is a good example of Vouet's approach. He did not really initiate a new style with such paintings, or with the important programs he carried out in wall and illusionistic ceiling decorations, but he trained many succeeding artists, most notably LE BRUN.