Of Flemish origin, Philippe de Champaigne was born in Brussels in 1602. After initial training in his native city as well as in Mons, he moved to Paris in 1621; he took French citizenship eight years later in 1629. Favored by Louis XIII, Louis XIV, and Cardinal Richelieu, Champaigne was a founding member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (1648). He was official painter for both the magistrates of Paris and for the Church. Initially a landscape painter and subsequently known for his portraits – he has been called “perhaps the greatest portrait painter of 17th-century France” (Grove Art Online, 2003, accessed 19 November 2019) – Champaigne is nonetheless best known for his large altarpieces characterized by nobility and solemnity.