Simon Vouet

Born Paris, 8 Jan 1590; buried; Paris, 1 July 1649.

French painter and draughtsman. Although at the time regarded as one of the leading French painters of the first half of the 17th century, he is now known more for his influence on French painting than for his actual oeuvre. He made his reputation in Italy, where he executed numerous portraits for aristocratic patrons and was commissioned for religious subjects. Although the early Italian works show the influence of Caravaggio, his work was subsequently modified by the Baroque style of such painters as Lanfranco and the influence of the Venetian use of light and colour. When he was summoned back to France by Louis XIII in 1627 he thus brought with him an Italian idiom hitherto unknown in France that revitalized French painting. His style became highly popular among Parisian aristocrats who saw in Vouet a painter capable of decorating their hôtels and châteaux in a manner that would rival the palazzi of their Italian counterparts. He quickly established a large workshop through which passed many of the leading French painters of the mid-17th century. There followed numerous commissions for allegorical works, religious subjects and decorative paintings for royal residences and the burgeoning hôtels and châteaux in and around Paris. The schemes introduced a new type of illusionistic decoration with steep perspective that influenced a generation of decorative painters. Few of his canvases are signed and dated and many of his decorative schemes have been destroyed; precise attribution is made more difficult because of his prolific output and his extensive use of his workshop to fulfil his numerous commissions. Although much of his oeuvre has been lost, it is known from the work of such distinguished engravers as Claude Mellan and Michel Dorigny, who reproduced and circulated his work.

1. Early years and Italy, 1590–mid-1627.

Little is known of his early life, except for the fact that his father, Laurent Vouet (b c. 1553–8), was a Parisian painter. Félibien records that he travelled to England at the age of 14 to ‘make the portrait of a Lady of quality’, and left for Constantinople in 1611, under the auspices of the King’s Ambassador, in order to execute the portrait of a ‘Grand Seigneur’. It was thus his talent as a portrait painter that brought him recognition. In 1612 he left Constantinople for Venice and by 1614 he was in Rome, where he received a pension from the French crown and enjoyed the protrection and patronage of the Barberini family. He rapidly established a reputation and received numerous commissions from ecclesiastical and aristocratic patrons, among them Cassiano dal Pozzo, Vincenzo Giustianini, Paolo Giordano Orsini and the Doria family, whom he depicted in such portraits as that of Gian Carlo Doria (Paris, Louvre).

Vouet became part of the Caravaggist movement (see Caravaggio, michelangelo merisa da, §IV, 1), which flowered in the 1620s and involved artists of all nationalities working in Rome. He worked on such themes as Judith with the Head of Holofernes (Vienna, Ksthist. Mus.), David with the Head of Goliath (Genoa, Pal. Bianco), The Fortune-teller (Ottawa, N.G.) and St Jerome and the Angel (Washington, DC, N.G.A.). The presentation of life-size figures on a plain background, the dramatic contrasts of light, the realistic anatomical studies drawn from life and the lack of any attempt to achieve a decorative layout were part of the language of Caravaggio. Several of Vouet’s great religious works executed for churches in Rome, such as the Temptation of St Francis (Rome, S Lorenzo in Lucina), also show the influence of Caravaggio in their presentation of effects of light and their use of a restricted palette of blacks, browns and whites. He also continued to work in a personal style, and was familiar not only with the great examples of the first and second schools of Fontainebleau but also with the great Venetian artists of the 16th century. The Fortune-teller, for example, is a fine illustration of a Caravaggesque genre scene but its burlesque treatment is quite alien to the Caravaggesque spirit.

Vouet also travelled in Italy. In 1621 he was in Genoa, where he painted portraits of Marcantonio Doria (Paris, Louvre) and Donna Isabella Appiana, Princess of Piombino (lost). He was impressed by the Circumcision (1606) by Rubens in Sant’Ambrogio, Genoa, and saw the work of the great artists of Bologna. He also saw such northern artists as Gerrit van Honthorst, and such contemporary Italian painters as Giovanni Lanfranco, Bartolomeo Manfredi, Orazio Borgianni, Bernardo Strozzi (1581–1644), Orazio Gentileschi and Artemisia Gentileschi.

His letters express his admiration of fine collections and his eagerness to explore Piacenza, Parma, Bologna and Florence, which he probably visited on his way back to Rome. During the years in Italy Vouet executed numerous portraits, with broad brushstrokes, in which the model is captured from life, the mouth slightly open and the head and shoulders turned towards the spectator, e.g. ?Self-portrait (Arles, Mus. Réattu), Portrait of a Young Man (Paris, Louvre) and Portrait of a Bravo (Brunswick, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Mus.). He produced a considerable number of religious paintings: Circumcision (1622; Naples, Sant’Angelo a Segno), the Appearance of the Virgin to St Bruno (?1626; Naples, Mus. N. S Martino), the Apotheosis of St Theodore (Dresden, Alte Pin.) for the Scuola di San Teodoro, Venice, Birth of the Virgin (c. 1620; Rome, S Francesco a Ripa), the Clothing of St Francis and the Temptation of St Francis (both 1624; Rome, S Lorenzo in Lucina, Alaleoni Chapel). In the Birth of the Virgin, the dramatic side lighting that makes the figures stand out against the dark background, the di sotto viewpoint, the plastic appearance of the figures and the gravity of the faces all reflect Vouet’s thoughtful contemplation of Caravaggio’s work, making this painting an exceptional piece from his Roman period. The linked series of gestures, the fullness of the draperies, the delicacy of the colour harmony and the care taken to achieve an elegant effect were already characteristic of Vouet’s work, which, at this period, still retained a breath of lyricism.

The Clothing of St Francis commissioned by Paolo Alaleone represents another stage in Vouet’s development. Although the presentation of the characters’ psychological reactions recalls Caravaggio, the attention paid to the narrative does not, and the decorative arrangement and lighting contrasts recall the artists of Bologna and Lanfranco. Vouet subsequently often adopted the decorative option seen here, setting his scene on a staircase with a background of columns, and this colour palette grew lighter. The Temptation of St Francis was a daring and singular work; commissioned for a church, in its dancing figure of a courtesan and its candlelit illumination it recalls the work of Honthorst, and the highly realistic treatment of detail is one of the lasting influences of his stay in Italy. Much of his Roman oeuvre was engraved by Claude Vignon, Johann Freidrich Greuter (c. 1600–60) and Claude Mellan.

Vouet’s advice to Mellan was ‘to draw and to set this study above all others’; it is therefore certain that he continued to develop his drawing skills in Italy. Very few of his drawings from his Italian period have survived, however, although numerous drawings from his Parisian period (e.g. Study for a Figure of Intellect), mainly executed in black chalk highlighted with white, show a considerable debt to Italian draughtsmen, in particular Annibale Carracci, Domenichino and some of the Genoese artists. The study (Reims, Mus. St-Denis) for part of the Allegory of the House of Savoy, engraved by Mellan, and St Peter Healing the Sick with his Shadow (Princeton U., NJ, A. Mus) are among the few extant Italian drawings. The second, executed in wash over an outline in black chalk, is of particular interest as it appears to refer to a prestigious commission for an altar painting for St Peter’s in Rome. The election of Urban VIII in 1623 helped to promote Vouet’s position, and he was commissioned for a painting on the subject of St Peter healing the sick. This subject was, however, abandoned in 1625 in favour of the Adoration of the Cross, with St Francis, St Anthony of Padua and St John Chrysostom. The painting, intended for the Canon Choir chapel behind Michelangelo’s Pietà, was destroyed during the 18th century. Documents indicate that Vouet had already executed drawings on the St Peter subject.

In 1624 Vouet was elected President of the Accademia di S Luca, in 1626 he married Virginia da Vezzo (b c. 1607) and, having received a pension from Louis XIII for several years, he seemed ready to follow an entirely Italian career. In 1627, however, he was recalled by the King, who wished to have a painter at court who would be capable of realizing the ambitious projects for the royal residences. Vouet visited Venice on his way back to France and the Venetian influence—clear colouring and the mastery of large-scale composition—impregnated his Parisian oeuvre. Time Vanquished by Venus, Love and Hope (Madrid, Prado), which he had painted in Rome in 1627, foreshadowed his new interest in Venice and the privileged role of colour, moving figures, wind-blown draperies, light colouring and landscape background.

2. Paris, late 1627–49.

Vouet reached Paris in late November 1627. He became Premier Peintre du Roi at a time when new fortunes were amassing and there was a revival in construction. He worked for the King on numerous projects. He executed cartoons (untraced) for an Old Testament series of tapestries that remain in the Louvre (see [not available online]), rich compositions, in which he deployed large numbers of figures in vast landscapes or architectural decors, known from six scenes engraved (1665) by François Tortebat (1616–90). The tapestries were highly coloured and had unusual wide, handsome borders embellished with fruits, flowers and putti. In the presence of the King, and at his express request, he made pastel drawings of the ladies and gentlemen of the court, of which some 60 examples have recently been found (divided among various French collections; see Brejon, 1982). For these simple, sober but lively images, in which the model seems vividly present, Vouet used pastels of different colours to create an entirely new version of the typical contemporary court portrait executed in three colours by such Parisian artists as members of the Dumontiers family. He also executed numerous paintings for such royal residences as the Château Neuf de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (destr. 1777; the Four Cardinal Virtues; now Versailles, Salon de Mars) the château of Fontainebleau (The Four Elements; lost; engraved by Michel Dorigny, 1644) and the Palais Royal where, for Anne of Austria, he executed the Allegory of Prudence (Montpellier, Mus. Fabre) and the Assumption of the Virgin (Reims, Mus. St-Denis).

As well as royal commissions Vouet also received commissions from statesmen, politicians and wealthy art lovers, all of whom wished to decorate their hôtels in Paris and their châteaux in the surrounding area. Vouet quickly organized a large studio, and was eagerly approached by young painters wishing to extend their training and study drawing. Virginia da Vezzo, Vouet’s Italian wife, also taught a drawing course for women. The decorative schemes he and his assistants executed extended to and occupied the ceilings, in the Italian style. Engravings by Michel Lasne, Pierre Daret, Michel Dorigny and, later, François Tortebat have made it possible to reconstruct these schemes, many of which were destroyed. Of the 14 mythological subjects on the gallery ceiling in the Château de Chilly, executed c. 1630–31 for the Marquis d’Effiat, Surintendant des Finances, the Meeting of the Gods is lost, but Sunrise and Moonrise, reproduced in engravings by Dorigny (see Dorigny, (1)), document Vouet’s sense of composition and his mastery of lighting effects. He remained faithful to the typical ceiling trompe l’oeil in which the figures are shown di sotto in sù with striking foreshortening. Early sources and archive texts mention several other decorative schemes executed in châteaux in the Paris area, such as those of Chessy (a series of Rinaldo and Armida, 1631; Paris, priv. col.) and, notably, Wideville, where Vouet provided fresco decorations (Parnassus and Nymph and River God, in situ) for the nymphaeum. For the hôtel of claude de Bullion, Vouet painted 24 scenes from the Story of Ulysses for the upper gallery, thus renewing his links with the great epic narrative works of the 16th century. Only eight scenes from the set are known from tapestries (Cheverny, Château). Vouet’s most ambitious decorative scheme was that in the chapel of the Hôtel Séguier (destr.) for the Chancellor pierre Séguier. It consisted of an astonishing Adoration of the Magi (destr.; engraving by Dorigny, 1638) accompanied by a long retinue in which Vouet used powerful trompe l’oeil effects to suggest architectural elements and space. A Crucifixion (c. 1635; Lyon, Mus. B.-A.) was situated over the altar and accompanied by 22 compositions fitted into the chapel’s panelling. The allegorical language of the library decor (engraved 1640) referred to Séguier’s intellectual and artistic interests of which the prestigious library was by no means the only example. The decor of the hôtel’s lower gallery showed 12 mythological compositions (engraved 1651), which alluded to the important events of the reign of Louis XIII (Sauval). These decorative schemes, whether from the beginning or the end of Vouet’s Parisian career, are elaborate, highly decorative and animated by a spirit of great lyricism. He was equally at ease with simpler and more poetical motifs such as Diana at Rest (1637; London, Hampton Court, Royal Col., see fig. [not available online]), a painting probably done for Charles I and sent by Vouet to the English court. He multiplied his draperies and splashes of colour, demonstrating his mastery of the human figure studied from life, embellished by a pearly treatment of the flesh and attention to detail. The paintings of c. 1630–31 for the Galerie des Hommes Illustres in the Palais Cardinal (now Palais Royal), on which he worked with Philippe de Champaigne, were more uneven, and the contribution of the studio can be clearly seen. Although Vouet did not seem to take particular care with the depiction of these historical figures, Cardinal Richelieu was satisfied and commissioned a Nativity (lost; engraving by Dorigny, 1638) for the chapel of the château of Rueil and an altarpiece for the Jesuit Novitiate, the Presentation in the Temple (1641; Paris, Louvre; see [not available online]). Vouet also provided drawings for paintings to be executed in the cabinets of the château of Richelieu.

The religious congregations and orders also commissioned Vouet. Examples include St Carlo Borromeo Offering his Life to God (c. late 1630s; Brussels, Mus. A. Anc.) for the Congrégation de la Doctrine Chrétienne in Paris, Adoration of the Divine Name by Four Saints (Paris, St-Merry), the altarpiece of the Martyrdom of St Eustache and his Family (lower section; Paris, St Eustache) and the Apotheosis of St Eustache and his Family (upper section; Nantes, Mus. B.-A.) and Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1640; Grenoble, Mus. B.-A.) for the Achères chapel in the church of the Feuillants, Paris. Dorigny’s engravings reproduced paintings executed for the Minims, the Jesuits and the Carmelites. Apart from the Last Supper (Loreto, Pal. Apostolico) and the Assumption (Paris, St Nicolas-des-Champs), works executed just after his return from Italy in which there is still a latent suggestion of Caravaggio’s luminism and of Rubens’s figures, his religious paintings showed no further stylistic development during the last two decades of his career. Vouet retained his sense of monumental format, with realistic and powerful figures shown in movement and da sotto in sù and with the Baroque influence of Lanfranco. The pictorial language of his religious works was the same as that of his secular paintings; his altarpieces were treated with identical dynamism, and the figures of his great works, scientifically composed, were linked like great splashes of colour, forming images appropriate to the wishes of the faithful and the congregations who were then undergoing a spiritual revival in Paris. Subsequently, however, Vouet’s use of a restricted vocabulary and his interchangeable secular and religious worlds have been criticized. His work has been labelled decorative, without regard for his audacious combinations of colour, the rich effects of his brushwork and his mastery of space, perspective and large surfaces. An artist who, apart from his religious works, limited his subject-matter to mythology and allegory, without recourse to the Classical world or to contemporary history, Vouet was in fact a great decorator; and in the first half of the 17th century, such a description was an accolade.

Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée. "Vouet, Simon." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T090199 (accessed March 8, 2012).