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Simon Vouet BIOGRAPHY
1590 Paris, France - 1649 Paris, France. Known for: Christian religious figure and portrait painting, pastel and chalk drawing.
Simon Vouet, (born January 9, 1590, Paris, France—died June 30, 1649, Paris), painter who introduced an Italianate Baroque* style of painting into France. Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he... Read full biography
Simon Vouet, (born January 9, 1590, Paris, France—died June 30, 1649, Paris), painter who introduced an Italianate Baroque* style of painting into France. Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1612 to 1627. The use of dramatic contrasts of light and shade seen in such early works as... Read full biography
Simon Vouet, (born January 9, 1590, Paris, France—died June 30, 1649, Paris), painter who introduced an Italianate Baroque* style of painting into France. Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1612 to 1627. The use of dramatic contrasts of light and shade seen in such early works as his Two Lovers indicates that he began in Rome as a follower of Caravaggio. Works done after 1620, however, such as St. Bruno (1620) and Cupid and Psyche (1637), display more idealized figures,... Read full biography
Simon Vouet, (born January 9, 1590, Paris, France—died June 30, 1649, Paris), painter who introduced an Italianate Baroque* style of painting into France. Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1612 to 1627. The use of dramatic contrasts of light and shade seen in such early works as his Two Lovers indicates that he began in Rome as a follower of Caravaggio. Works done after 1620, however, such as St. Bruno (1620) and Cupid and Psyche (1637), display more idealized figures, betraying the influence of Guido Reni, Il Guercino, and Domenichino, who painted in the classical Baroque* style of the school of Bologna. Vouet’s Time Vanquished (1627) breaks with the tenebrism* of Caravaggio, using the more evenly diffused white light... Read full biography
Simon Vouet, (born January 9, 1590, Paris, France—died June 30, 1649, Paris), painter who introduced an Italianate Baroque* style of painting into France. Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1612 to 1627. The use of dramatic contrasts of light and shade seen in such early works as his Two Lovers indicates that he began in Rome as a follower of Caravaggio. Works done after 1620, however, such as St. Bruno (1620) and Cupid and Psyche (1637), display more idealized figures, betraying the influence of Guido Reni, Il Guercino, and Domenichino, who painted in the classical Baroque* style of the school of Bologna. Vouet’s Time Vanquished (1627) breaks with the tenebrism* of Caravaggio, using the more evenly diffused white light that characterizes his later style. He returned to Paris in 1627 at the request of L... Read full biography
Artist Biography
Biography page for Simon Vouet ((1590 - 1649)), known for Christian religious figure and portrait painting, pastel and chalk drawing. Showing 2 biographical entries and 0 sample artworks.
Simon Vouet - Artist Info
About Simon Vouet
Biography from the Archives of askART
Simon Vouet, (born January 9, 1590, Paris, France—died June 30, 1649, Paris), painter who introduced an Italianate Baroque* style of painting into France.
Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1612 to 1627. The use of dramatic contrasts of light and shade seen in such early works as his Two Lovers indicates that he began in Rome as a follower of Caravaggio.
Works done after 1620, however, such as St. Bruno (1620) and Cupid and Psyche (1637), display more idealized figures, betraying the influence of Guido Reni, Il Guercino, and Domenichino, who painted in the classical Baroque* style of the school of Bologna.
Vouet’s Time Vanquished (1627) breaks with the tenebrism* of Caravaggio, using the more evenly diffused white light that characterizes his later style.
He returned to Paris in 1627 at the request of Louis XIII, who named him his first painter. Thereafter, Vouet won almost all the important painting commissions and dominated the city artistically for 15 years. He exercised an enormous influence with such works as Riches (c. 1630), which was probably part of the decorative program of the château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Engravings and surviving panels show that he had studied Italian illusionistic ceiling decoration; e.g., his work in the Château de Chilly is derived from Guercino’s Aurora, and that in the Hôtel Séguier (completed c. 1640) is derived from Veronese. His other principal undertakings were in the Hôtel de Bullion and in the palace of the Cardinal de Richelieu at Rueil.
Vouet’s religious paintings of the early 1630s, such as the St. Charles Borromeo (c. 1640), show a developed but restrained Baroque style. The Madonna (c. 1640) and the Diana (1637) illustrate his best-known style, characterized by soft, smooth, and idealized modeling, sensuousness of forms, use of bright colours, and a facile technique.
Source:
"Simon Vouet, French Painter", written by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com. Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspxBiography from Setdart
Simon Vouet, a French Baroque painter, began his training with his father and later traveled to Constantinople, Venice, and Rome where he achieved great success. He settled in Rome, influenced by Caravaggio and later by Neo-Venetianist and Roman-Bolognese classicism. Vouet returned to France in 1627 and became the most influential painter of his time, introducing Italian Baroque influences, especially from Veronese, into French art.