Valentin De Boulogne : Réinventer Caravage

Exhibition at the Louvre Museum, Paris, 22 February - 22 May 2017 ;
then at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 7 October 2016 - 22 January 2017

After Caravaggio's death in 1610, Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632) established himself as one of the main players in the renewal of painting in Rome at the beginning of the Seicento. By reformulating the "maniera caravaggiesca" in a new vein, he appears as one of the most original interpreters of the pittura dal naturale: psychological acuity of the figures, introspective power, pervasive melancholy, chromatic refinement typical of the great Venetians, constant involvement of the viewer.

Analysing some fifty paintings that represent almost the entirety of the artist's oeuvre, this exhibition catalogue explores both the representations of everyday life featuring palmistry, gambling, concerts, brawls, fraud, theft or drunkenness - in which the repertoire of taverns and the learned language of allegory are imperceptibly mixed - and the tumultuous context in which they were executed.