The Seventeenth Century French Paintings

The National Gallery possesses an outstanding collection of French seventeenth-century paintings, including such well-known works as Claude's Seaport with the Embarkation of Saint Ursula and Nicolas Poussin's Bacchanalian Revel before a Term.

Since 1957, when Martin Davies published The French School, an unprecedented amount of research has been undertaken on French artists in the seventeenth-century.

Taking account of this, Humphrey Wine has written afresh on the seventeenth-century paintings in Davies's catalogue, adding detailed entries on all subsequent acquisitions in this field. These include, as well as paintings by Claude and Poussin, major pictures such as Laurent La Hyre's Allegory of Grammar, the Le Nain brothers' Adoration of the Shepherds, Philippe de Champaigne's full-length Cardinal Richelieu and Eustache Le Sueur's Alexander and his Doctor.

New research and information based on the re-examination of each picture are combined with full-page colour illustrations of every painting, as well as details, technical photographs and comparative illustrations.

The introductory essay provides an account of the collecting of French paintings of the seventeenth century in England from that time until the recent past. An invaluable reference for seventeenth-century French painting, this catalogue also provides the opportunity for a closer look at some of the most beautiful paintings in the National Gallery's collection.

About the Author:
Humphrey Wine is curator of French Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Paintings at the National Gallery. His previous publications include the exhibition catalogue Claude - The Poetic Landscape.

Generously supported by the Arthur and Holly Magill Foundation.