Philippe de Champaigne

Philippe de Champaigne - First successes alongside Nicolas Poussin in Paris

Philippe de Champaigne was born in Brussels on 26th May, 1602. Although the painter came from a poor background, he grew up in an extremely art and culture-friendly environment: Both the regent of the Spanish Netherlands and Archduke Albrecht VII of Habsburg, and his wife, the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain, proved to be great patrons of the arts. Philippe de Champaigne received his first painting lessons from the landscape painter Jacques Fouquières, and in 1621, the young artist travelled to Paris, where he worked with his famous colleague Nicolas Poussin on the decoration of the Palais du Luxembourg. He proved himself so skillful there that he set out to be more successful than Nicolas Duchesne, who was responsible for the overall direction of the work. Duchesne soon became fiercely jealous of the increasingly successful painter, so that Philippe de Champaigne finally gave up his position and fled to Brussels to join his brother.

Celebrated court painter in the service of the crown and clergy

Philippe de Champaigne did not have to remain in his self-imposed exile for long, however. The news of Nicolas Duchesne's death soon brought him back to Paris, where he not only married the daughter of his former adversary, but also won the favour of Maria de' Medici, on whose behalf the Palais du Luxembourg had been built. She appointed de Champaigne as her new court painter in succession to the deceased Duchesne and, as such, provided him not only with a handsome annual salary but also with prestigious commissions, including the decoration of the Carmelite church Faubourg Saint-Jacques. Although the church fell victim to the turmoil of the French Revolution, some of the master's paintings were saved and the painting of the Assumption of the Virgin is now in the Louvre. Philippe de Champaigne also created several paintings for the famous Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral and received commissions from Cardinal Richelieu, for whom he decorated the Palais Royal, the Sorbonne Cathedral, and other buildings.

Reaching the top with cool colours and strict composition

Philippe de Champaigne created an extensive oeuvre, which mainly included religious depictions, but also portraits that were influenced in the artist's early years by the style of his contemporary Rubens. Over the years, he increasingly developed his own independent style, which, with its cool, brilliant colours and strict composition, inspired a growing audience which included all members of the French court, as well as numerous high-ranking representatives of the nobility, clergy and politics. Philippe de Champaigne was so popular that even two centuries later, Edmond Rostand mentioned him in his world-famous drama Cyrano de Bergerac. Alongside his nephew Jean Baptiste de Champaigne, his pupils included illustrious names such as William Faithorne and Nicolas de Plattemontagne.

Philippe de Champaigne died in Paris on 12th August 1674.