Studies for 'The Conversion of the Jailer before Saint Paul and Silas'

Nicolas de Plattemontagne's stylistic affinities with his teacher, Philippe de Champaigne, have resulted in misattributions, as seen in the inscription on this sheet. Both artists excelled in painting portraits and religious subjects, and this drawing demonstrates Plattemontagne's interest in giving portraitlike specificity to the actor's in his biblical dramas. The studies relate to the figure of Silas, Saint Paul's companion, in the artist's 1666 altarpiece illustrating Acts 16:16–26 (Musée du Louvre, Paris), in which the jailer is converted to Christianity.
A painter of portraits and religious subjects, Plattemontagne pursued a style closely modeled upon that of his teacher, Philippe de Champaigne, to whom the present sheet was once ascribed. These studies relate to the figure of Silas in "Saint Paul in Prison," an altarpiece painted by Plattemontagne for the cathedral of Nôtre Dame in 1666 and a winner of that year's "May" competition.