beside the easel

Christ and the Adulteress, 1625 Born in north-central France on January 3, 1591, Valentin de Boulogne was a Baroque painter who spent most of his career in Italy, so heavily influenced by the tenebrism of Caravaggio that he would become one of the leading exponents of the Caravaggisti . Having studied under the artist who brought the Baroque to France, Simon Vouet , Valentin would synthesize his own fingerprint onto this genre in a way that few others did. Facial expression, body language, and attention to anatomy are what dominate the work of Valentin, with small accents of vibrant color. While Caravaggio's realism maintains a sense of Classicism, Valentin has more of the Baroque drama and dynamic anatomy—his figures seem to wrestle within the confines of the moment. Yet Valentin's realism in portraiture has a powerful presence that rivalled the best of his day. Unfortunately like some of his contemporaries, Valentin died young at the age of 41, where had he lived long en...