In recent years there have been some fundamental discoveries concerning Vouet’s Italian period. The Fortune Teller dated 1617 resurfaced in the reserves of the Galleria Nazionale in Rome. Thanks to this painting and to several paintings previously unknown or not exhibited Vouet’s entire chronology in Italy needs to be reviewed, as Pierre Rosenberg points out. Another contribution has been the reappearance of several drawings from this period which show that Vouet never wholly espoused Caravaggio’s method of dispensing with preparatory drawings.

 It is worth recalling Vouet’s predominant role in Rome, which was then Europe’s uncontested art capital attracting artists from all. Under the reign of Pope Urban VIII Barberini, Vouet became one of the Eternal City’s foremost painters and leader of its large French colony of artist. Elected prince of Rome’s Accademia di San Luca in 1624, he was given a prestigious commission for Saint Peter’s: an Adoration of the Cross and the symbols of the Passion intended to serve as décor to Michelangelo’s Pieta. After an initial period when the influence of Caravaggio was predominant, Vouet developed a less tenebrist, more sculpturally developed style. His success led Louis XIII to recall him to France as the King’s First Painter. After fifteen prolific years in Italy where he married a native of Rome, Virginia da Vezzi, Vouet began another chapter in his glorious career.

Bringing together these works will help provide essential markers in our knowledge of the painter. It will also be a genuine delight for the eye, including wonderful genre scenes and masterly religious works.