Sebastien Bourdon
French, 1616–1671
BiographySébastien Bourdon was born in 1616 to Protestant parents living in Montpellier. He was apprenticed to a painter in Paris from age seven to fourteen (1623-30), and worked in France until his arrival in Rome in 1636, 8 where he gained a reputation as a painter of bambocciante. Bourdon was forced to flee Rome in 1638 to escape denunciation by the Inquisition for his Protestant faith. Following his return to Paris Bourdon continued to paint Italianate genre scenes, but after about 1640 the influence of Nicolas Poussin (1593/4-1665) became more pronounced in his works, as evidenced in their geometric compositions, clearly-defined planes, and brighter palette. In 1648 Bourdon was one of the founding members of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, and was named rector of the Académie in 1654. Bourdon painted primarily history scenes, but also executed landscapes, portraits, and numerous large-scale decorative works, as well as a few genre scenes.