Throughout the seventeenth century the impulse for the artistic
activity of France emanated from Rome. But before discussing the
dominating personalities of the age we must refer to a few painters who
occupy a more or less isolated position in the art of their country.
The naturalism of Caravaggio was introduced into France by two of
his followers, Jean de Boulongne, called Le Valentin (1591-1634),
and Simon Vouet (1590-1649), who was also slightly influenced by the
Venetians. Valentin spent the best part of his life in Rome, where he
died in 1634. The Louvre owns, among eight pictures from his brush
(not all of which are exhibited), his masterpiece, _The Innocence of
Susannah recognised_ (No. 56), which has the vigorous handling and bold
chiaroscuro of the Neapolitan school.
Simon Vouet, who came to England at the age of fifteen, and
subsequently travelled in Turkey and Italy, where he remained until
his appointment as Painter to the King took him back to Paris in 1627,
tried to combine the naturalism of Caravaggio with the colouring of the
Venetians, an endeavour in which he was only partially successful, as
he was not equipped by nature with a sensuous appreciation of beautiful
colour. The Louvre owns a dozen Scriptural subjects and allegorical
figures by Vouet; but even the best of them, _The Presentation of Jesus
in the Temple_ (No. 971), is but a dull and heavy performance; whilst
his _Portrait of Louis XIII._ (No. 976) is wholly devoid of artistic
merit. Perhaps he owes his fame chiefly to the fact that he was the
master of the absurdly overrated Le Sueur and of that art despot of the
Louis XIV. era, Charles Le Brun.