Guy François, Vers 1758-1650 : Peintre Caravagesque Du Puy-En-Velay

Active in Puy-en-Velay from the 1610s until his death in 1650, Guy François was one of the first artists to introduce Caravaggio to France, which he discovered during his long stay in Rome at the beginning of the century, where he also rubbed shoulders with Annibal Carracci and above all Carlo Saraceni. On his return from Rome in 1613, Guy François set up his studio in Puy-en-Velay, his native town, and quickly succeeded in building up a large clientele among the religious congregations, who found in his paintings, with their simple and clear compositions, the perfect vehicle for representing the ideas of the Counter-Reformation. Thus, Guy François' art spread throughout a good half of the southern kingdom of France, from Bordeaux to Lyon and from the northern confines of the Auvergne to the Languedoc, with Toulouse and Montpellier. In addition to altarpieces, he also painted large decorations for the Jesuits, small private devotional pictures, portraits and some allegorical scenes.

The current body of work of Guy François, marked by the context of the Counter-Reformation, consists of about one hundred paintings and about twenty drawings, all of which are listed in this volume, that includes a monograph and a catalogue raisonné.