Baroque art spread in France somewhat late and in somewhat modified form, in which more emphasis was given to the elements of classical art.
The painter Le Valtant was the first French follower of Caravaggio (Bacchus), but he spent his entire career in Rome and his art would hardly have had any influence on French art.
The work of turning French art towards the Baroque style was mainly done by some second class French painters, among whom was a painter named Claude Vineau.
Vinyo lived in Rome from 1616-24 where he became acquainted with the realism of Caravadgio, but the greatest influence on his art came from Adam Elsheimer and his Dutch disciple Pieter Lastman.
The art of Simon Veuve certainly guided the development of French art. After traveling to nearby Asian countries and Italy, he returned to France in 1627.
Till the end, he lived and painted in Paris and was counted among the leading painters there. Vue created many altarpieces for the churches and monasteries of Paris, which resemble the Baroque style.
He is mainly influenced by Roman painters Lafranco and Guercino, although he has followed the painters of Venus and used bright colors. happened in and
Among other French painters influenced by the Baroque style, Georges de La Tour is particularly famous and his works are particularly influenced by the idea of religiosity and the effect of artificial light.
He might have sometimes traveled to Rome and come in contact with Caravadgio’s disciples Le Valtant or Bartolomeo Manfredi. But his paintings made around 1630 are more similar to the painting style of Caravadgio’s Dutch followers Hanthorst and Tubergen.
His religious paintings with candle light, ‘Carpenter Saint Joseph’, ‘Saint Sebastian’ and ‘Nativity’, are as realistic as Caravadjio’s and have original thoughtfulness and atmospheric seriousness.
There is a lack of detail in the background and by simplifying the planning of wide areas, the scenes have been made imbued with religiosity, an influence which is more visible in the art of the Spanish painter Dhurbaran than in the art of the contemporary Dutch or Italian painters.
The art of painter Louis L’Nen and his brothers Antoine and Matieu is also influenced by contemporary Dutch and Italian art. All three were born in Lyon and around 1630 all three were painting in Paris.
Among them, Louis Léon had probably traveled to Rome and there he might have seen the paintings of the daily life of the peasants and people of the general strata of the society in Cambocchi.
Around 1640 Louis Léon became famous for his paintings of peasant life. His paintings contain very sympathetic depictions of peasant families dressed in tattered clothes.
He was particularly adept at capturing realistic effects of light and atmosphere. By placing special emphasis on the permanent feeling, their combinations appear peaceful but somewhat static. While the figures are realistic, there is a touch of classicism in them.
His famous painting ‘Blacksmith’s Shop’ reminds of the paintings of ‘Roman Fire God’ with mythological subject although the context of this painting has been chosen from the contemporary peasant life.
It would be informative to compare this painting with Velasquez’s famous painting ‘The Furnace of the Fire God’. Velasquez’s natural and dynamic painting has a narrative power which is lacking in L’En’s paintings, but the effect of light in L’En’s paintings and the skill of combining shapes with the skillful planning of the wide light field are especially commendable.
Another French Baroque painter was Philippe de Champagnie, who was born in Brussels and whose art was greatly influenced by Rubens, whose ‘Adoration of the Magi’ is a clear example.
His early portraits, such as ‘Cardinal Richelieu’, are similar to Van Dyck’s portraits. Influenced by Dutch art, Champagne’s paintings are characterized by clarity, seriousness of emotion and smooth brushwork. Despite being an excellent painter, he could not achieve fame commensurate with his ability in front of the contemporary French painter Pugen.
By painting classical paintings in the Baroque style, Poussin (1594-1665) gained an important place not only in France but in the whole of Europe.
Leaving his village of Namandi, Puss went to study first in Rouen and then in Paris where he lived from 1612 to 1624. At the end of this period, he worked with the painter Duchenne on the decoration of the Luxembourg Palace.
After visiting Rome in 1624, he was greatly influenced by Domenico’s art. The composition of the figures in the background of his painting ‘The Triumph of David’ is similar to the composition of the figures of Domenico’s painting ‘The Decapitation of Saint Andrew’.
During his stay in Rome, Pusan benefited greatly from studying the art of other great painters. Raphael’s compositional skills and Veronese’s harmonious color scheme greatly guided him.
In his altar paintings ‘The Self-Sacrifice of Saint Erasmus’ and ‘The Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Saint James’, the precursors of the great Baroque style to come are visible.
The clear density and background design of these paintings prove that Pusan was influenced by Guercino’s art. But the permanent guidance to the art of Pujan came from ancient sculpture.
Pusan got married in 1630 and after that he did not paint for churches or palaces for 2/3 years. His works of this period are small in size as he now started painting for middle-class well-educated art lovers.
The paintings of the next few years like ‘Inspiration of the Poet’ are full of poetic feelings and in the opinion of some connoisseurs, these paintings are the best works of art of Pusan.
After 1633, he again started painting religious subjects, among which there are many paintings of the Old Testament. Tichen’s study of art had inspired him to use clean and bright colors and create colorful environments and now its influence became more evident.
From the study of the development of Puss’ art, it becomes clear that by the 35th year of his age, the qualities of romantic enthusiasm, influence of warm color consistency, free style of marking and clear brushwork in his art were replaced by controlled drawing, some cold colors. Classical qualities like consistency etc. started appearing in the paintings made later.
The entire picture composition was now done with intellectual analysis and practice. Facial features began to be idealized following classical rules and human figures became as solid as sculptures.
In colors, dry and less bright colors got preference. In short, the stimulating and naturalistic elements of art were replaced by abstract and philosophical aspects of the subject.
Puss was a devoted admirer of ancient classical art and considered the art of Karavadujya as directionless. Despite this, he was a lover of human and natural beauty.
That is why his art, while being pure from scriptures, has the attraction of sensual beauty. There is no indifference of classical art in it, rather it seems alive with natural consciousness.
After going to Rome at the age of 30, he spent most of his life in Italy, but his art is closer to French art, the main reason for which is its emotionality.
In comparison, his paintings are of small size. He made paintings on religious and mythological subjects and did not make any personal portraits except one self-portrait.
Despite his residence in Italy, he did not paint frescoes. The specialty of Pusan’s dialectical creative personality was that he was a lover of beauty but he controlled it with restraint.
He was attracted towards colors but did not give them a prominent place. He loved the truth but he kept it separate from incidental and petty elements.
Despite his devotion to the scriptures, we can consider his following paintings as original and representative, ‘Saint Matthew and the Angel’, ‘Abduction of the Sevain Women’, ‘The Funeral procession of Phocian’.
Due to the pure beauty of his creations, Pusan has been considered the best painter of the seventeenth century. Cézanne, the father of modern art, had said, “I want to follow Pu but in the company of nature.”
Claude Jelle, better known as Claude Lorrain (1600-82), went to Rome at the beginning of his professional career and spent his entire life there.
He was adept at making historical nature paintings. In such paintings, imaginary scenes were created by depicting natural parts like trees, waterfalls, hills etc. along with man-made ancient objects like palaces, houses, ruins, temples etc.
When he made paintings on any historical or mythological subject, he often gave so much importance to the natural parts of the background that it became like a nature painting.
In the history of nature depiction, he has been given a place among the pioneer painters. Like the Impressionists, he did not give importance to the external reality of the scene but made changes in it according to his imagination and made it beautiful and emotional.
Therefore, it would be appropriate to call his paintings imaginary nature paintings rather than realistic ones, although there does not seem to be any difference between them and realistic nature paintings in visual effect.
The effect of his rough nature line paintings made in transparent water colors is similar to the Chinese nature paintings of traditional style. Among other French painters of the Baroque style, VG Lavigne, Charles Lyon Blanchard, Jean Javon, Claude Vinoe Sevastien Bourdon were well-known.
