Birth of the Virgin
by VOUET, Simon, Oil on canvas, 217 x 329 cm
The French Simon Vouet triumphed in Rome by becoming president of the Academy of St Luke in 1627. He painted the Birth of the Virgin for the San Francesco a Ripa with an uncommonly powerful sense of composition.
During his first visit to Rome Vouet seems to have produced many paintings in a picturesque style, either of swaggering bravo figures, or portraits in the same guise. Later he was to take up Charavaggio’s use of chiaroscuro, but in a very personal manner, particularly in the present Birth of the Virgin.
Birth of the Virgin is an unusually original version of Caravaggio’s style, novel in its broad, low composition, bold in its foreshortenings, and striking in its handling of drapery. It reveals a curios feature of the artist’s style at this period, for one detail, the head of the maidservant in the middle is taken directly from Michelangelo.