Aubin Vouet

Bio

Six years after his brother’s departure for Italy, he went to Rome to be with him. It probably happened around 1619, because in 1920 him and his brother Simon were registered during the Statti delle Anime. they would both have lived at the Vicolo di San Silvestro.

In Rome, he was amazed by Caravaggio’s paintings. His David tenant la tête de Goliath is a perfect illustration of this influence.

However he soon left Rome (his brother would stay another six years) to come back to Paris. In 1621 he became Peintre Ordinaire du Roi (court painter) for Louis XIII. Thus began an official career that brought him a lot of commissioned paintings.

Around 1630 he was asked to participate in the decoration of the Chapelle des Pénitents Noirs in Toulouse, this is when he painted two large pictures about Revelation and Adoration of the Cross, Le Serpent d’airain and L’Invention de la vraie Croix. Both are thought to have been finished by Jean Senelle (Meaux 1605-1671) a student at Aubin Vouet’s school, former student of Georges Lallemant.

In 1634, Aubin Vouet worked in the chapelle du Château-Vieux in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

During that time, he would have also been very active in his brother’s Parisian school (notably working with François Tortebat, Michel Dorigny, Michel Corneille l’Ancien, Nicolas Chaperon, Charles Poërson) and would have participated in the realisation of Simon’s paintings.

In his early artworks, Aubin Vouet was obviously influenced by Caravaggio, following in the footsteps of the Caravaggesques like Guido Reni, Nicolas Régnier or Domenico Fetti.

When he came back to France, he started favouring big compositions, often representing mythological or religious subjects. With a style very similar to his brother’s, with vibrant swatches, long draperies pacing the scenes, both brothers’ compositions are very close, often in friezes or inside a triangle, characters frequently heightened, as can be seen in Le Centurion Corneille aux pieds de Saint Pierre he painted in 1639 for the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris.

In his diptych for the Chapelle des Pénitents Noirs in Toulouse, Le Serpent d’airain and L’invention de la vraie Croix, Aubin Vouet used bright colours and soft light to out the draperies.