Bertholet Flémal 1614-1675

Successor of Lambert Lombard and trained by Gérard Douffet, a Caravaggio follower, Bertholet Flémal was the major figure of Liege artistic center in the 17th century. Around 1640, Flémal discovered Rome, which oriented definitely his aesthetic choices focused on ancient times; he joined there the French painters working around Nicolas Poussin. His career led him repeatedly to Paris, where he rapidly became famous and worked notably on the dome of Chapelle des Carmes and on the ceiling of throne room in the Tuileries. He painted in Brussels his key work, Hezekiah's penance, Poussin-style work realized in a Rubens-style context.

This book studies Flémal's painted and drawn work, composed of a catalogue of around hundred pieces often unpublished, and of numerous references to missing works to find, and allows to size up Flémal, called by Sandrart, as soon as 1679, as the "Netherlands Raphael".