French painter Simon Vouet, who was born on January 9, 1590 in Paris, was responsible for introducing the Italian Baroque style of painting in France.
Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1612 to 1627. The use of dramatic contrasts of light and shadow seen in works as early as his Two lovers indicates that he began in Rome as a follower of Caravaggio. However, works made after 1620, such as Saint Bruno (1620) and Cupid and Psyche (1637), show more idealized figures, betraying the influence of Guido Reni, Il Guercino and Domenichino, who painted in the classic baroque style of the School of Bologna. In his work Time conquered by love, beauty and hope (1627) he breaks with Caravaggio’s gloom, using the more uniformly diffused white light that would characterize his later style.
He returned to Paris in 1627 at the request of Louis XIII, who named him his first painter. From then on, Vouet won almost every major painting commission and artistically dominated the city for 15 years. He exerted an enormous influence with works such as Riches (c. 1630), which was probably part of the decorative program of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Surviving engravings and panels show that he had studied Italian illusionist ceiling decoration; for example, your work at the Château de Chilly is derived from the Aurora de Guercino, and that of the Hotel Séguier (completed around 1640) is derived from Veronese. His other major ventures were in the Hôtel de Bullion and in the palace of Cardinal Richelieu in Rueil.
The religious paintings of Vouet from the early 1630s, such as the Saint Carlo Borromeo (c. 1640), show a developed but moderate Baroque style. The Madonna (c. 1640) and the Diana (1637) illustrate his best known style, characterized by a soft, smooth and idealized modeling, the sensuality of the forms, the use of bright colors and an easy technique.