Champaigne, Philippe De

Philippe de Champaigne, (born May 26, 1602, Brussels, Spanish Netherlands [now in Belgium]—died August 12, 1674, Paris, France), Flemish-born Baroque painter and teacher of the French school who is noted for his restrained and penetrating portraits and his religious paintings.

Champaigne was trained in Brussels by Jacques Fouquier and others and arrived in Paris in 1621. He was employed in 1625 with the classical Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin in the decoration of the Luxembourg Palace under the direction of French painter Nicolas Duchesne. Champaigne’s career progressed rapidly under the patronage of the queen mother Marie de Médicis, and in 1628 he succeeded Duchesne in the position of court painter. (He had married Duchesne’s daughter the previous year.) Champaigne also enjoyed success under the patronage of cardinal de Richelieu, Jules Cardinal Mazarin, and King Louis XIII, for whom he produced a number of religious paintings and portraits, including Louis XIII Crowned by Victory (1635). Champaigne’s triple portrait of Richelieu (1642) was used by Italian sculptor Francesco Mochi in Rome to execute a portrait bust of the cardinal. He decorated a gallery in the Palais Royal for Richelieu and executed (1633–40) perhaps his most masterful portrait of the powerful French figure showing the subject standing (officers of the church were usually portrayed sitting) in his cardinal’s robes, thus reflecting his dual position as prelate of the church and, in all but name, monarch of the realm.

Champaigne, Philippe de: The Prevot des Marchands and the Echevins of the City of Paris

Philippe de Champaigne: Saint Augustine

Over his lifetime Champaigne produced many works for the various palaces and churches of Paris. In 1643 he became involved with Jansenism, an ascetic sect, and he rejected many Baroque conventions. His paintings became simplified and more austere, and his portraits, which often portray the sitter dressed in black, demonstrate his sensitivity toward and understanding of the subjects. His strongest works are the natural and lifelike psychological portraits he produced of eminent contemporaries such as architect Jacques Lemercier (1644), French humanist and Jansenist Omer Talon (1649), politician Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1655), Cardinal Mazarin (after 1650), and others. Blending Flemish, French, and Italian elements, his work is characterized by a brilliant colour sense, a monumental conception of the figure, and a sober use of composition. His portrait style shows the influence of Peter Paul Rubens and Sir Anthony van Dyck.

Champaigne, Philippe de: Ex-Voto of 1662

Champaigne became a founding member (1648) of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture and went on to become a professor (1653) and, later, the rector of the Royal Academy. He continued, however, to receive important commissions, painted prolifically, and enjoyed a celebrated reputation. One of the masterpieces of his later period is Mother Catherine-Agnes Arnauld and Sister Cathérine (Ex Voto de 1662), which was painted after the miraculous curing of his daughter, a nun at the Jansenist convent of Port Royal. Champaigne’s academic art theory emphasized drawing and was possibly the originator of the drawing-versus-colour controversy that embroiled the French Academy until well into the 18th century.