PATEL, Pierre - b. ~1605 Picardie, d. 1676 Paris

French landscape painter, member of a family of painters. He was a pupil of Vouet but worked in the manner of Claude, with whose paintings his own have sometimes been confused.

He dedicated himself exclusively to the art of landscape painting, and it is presumed that he spent his entire career in Paris, as there is no evidence to support claims that he went to Italy. In 1633–34 he was admitted to the guild of St Germain-des-Prés and in 1635 was admitted to the Académie de Saint-Luc. In 1651 he took part in a vain attempt to merge the Académie Royale and the Académie de Saint-Luc, after which he remained loyal to the latter.

In his day he was well known for his panels set into the decoration of rooms, notably in the Cabinet de l’Amour of the Hôtel Lambert in Paris (on which he collaborated with Le Sueur). His son, Pierre-Antoine (1648-1708), painted in his father’s manner. Both men often featured Classical ruins in their paintings, looking forward to the picturesque.