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Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683)

1655
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 618
In addition to being an important painter of religious subjects, Champaigne gave a face to many key players in the administration of Louis XIV’s France, including the sitter of this portrait, who entered the king’s service in 1661 and eventually became minister of finance. Colbert’s friendship with Charles Le Brun resulted in the founding of the French Royal Academy, the institution that would dominate French artistic life for the next two centuries. While in office, Colbert promoted policies that were codified after his death, such as the Code Noir (1685). This decree gave legal sanction to a brutal system of torture and repression intended to enforce the institution of slavery in the French colonial empire, restricted the activities of free Black people, made Roman Catholicism a compulsory religion, and ordered Jewish people to leave the colonies.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683)
  • Artist: Philippe de Champaigne (French, Brussels 1602–1674 Paris)
  • Date: 1655
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 36 1/4 x 28 1/2 in. (92.1 x 72.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of The Wildenstein Foundation Inc., 1951
  • Object Number: 51.34
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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An Album With Portraits of Women
Philippe de Champaigne
17th century
The Presentation of the Virgin, Philippe de Champaigne French, Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash
The Presentation of the Virgin
Philippe de Champaigne
17th century
View of Jerusalem with the Temple of Solomon, Philippe de Champaigne French, Red chalk on two attached sheets of off-white laid paper
View of Jerusalem with the Temple of Solomon
Philippe de Champaigne
17th century
Portrait of Charlotte Duchesne, Philippe de Champaigne French, Black chalk, heightened with white, with touches of red chalk
Portrait of Charlotte Duchesne
Philippe de Champaigne
ca. 1628
The Annunciation, Philippe de Champaigne French, Oil on oak
The Annunciation
Philippe de Champaigne
ca. 1644

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