Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632: French)

Works included in this catalogue
Baudet after Valentin Tribute Money {1879} NGV [PR] [Levey gift, cat.11]
Rousselet after Valentin The Four Evangelists {1879} NGV [PR] [Levey gift, cat.21-24] 

After arriving in Rome in about 1620, Valentin was initially heavily influenced by Caravaggio; but he then developed a distinctive blend of the latter’s immediacy with classicizing tendencies. For a significant reassessment, see the recent New York/Paris exhibition  catalogue noted below.

The engravings after Valentin from George Collins Levey’s 1879 donation (as listed above) are from the Tableaux du roi series, reproducing paintings from the French royal collection in Louis XIV’s era. Lemoine, in the 2016-17 Valentin catalogue, suggests that his particular form of restrained Baroque drama may have been particularly to the Sun King’s personal taste.

Refs.

See now the fully-researched recent catalogue: Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio (New York, Metropolitan Museum and Paris, Louvre, 2016-17); see also Beverly Louise Brown (ed.), The Genius of Rome, 1592-1623, London: Royal Academy, 2001, p.384-5 (exh.cat.)