Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu
“Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu” by Philippe de Champaigne shows Cardinal Richelieu from three angles: the right profile, face on, and left profile. This painting was made in Paris as a study for a bust to be made in Rome.
The portrait depicts the grey-haired Cardinal, aged nearly 60, wearing a scarlet liturgical skullcap and cape. He wears the broad collar of a white shirt, which is tied at the neck with a trailing string.
The Cardinal wears the blue ribbon of the Order of the Holy Spirit from which hangs the Maltese cross of the Order. An inscription above the right head, which is the left profile, notes in French “of these two profiles, this is the better.”
In Rome, the Italian sculptor Francesco Mochi had been commissioned to make a statue which is now lost. Later the painting was also used by Bernini for his 1641 Bust of Cardinal Richelieu, now in the Louvre Museum.
Bernini had similarly used a “Triple Portrait of Charles I” by Anthony Van Dyck for his bust of Chares I.
Cardinal Richelieu
Cardinal Richelieu (1585 – 1642) was a French clergyman and statesman. He was consecrated as a bishop in 1607 and was appointed Foreign Secretary in 1616.
Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic Church and the French government, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIII’s chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642.
The Cardinal was known as the king’s “Chief Minister.” He sought to consolidate royal power and transformed France into a strong, centralized state.
His chief foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austro-Spanish Habsburg dynasty and to ensure French dominance.
Although he was a cardinal, he did not hesitate to make alliances with Protestant rulers in an attempt to achieve his goals.
Richelieu was also famous for his patronage of the arts; most notably, he founded the Académie française, the society responsible for matters of the French language.
Richelieu is also known as “the Red Eminence” from the red shade of a cardinal’s clerical dress and his style.
“Bust of Cardinal Richelieu” by Bernini, 1641, Louvre
Richelieu has frequently been depicted in popular fiction, most notably as the lead villain in Alexandre Dumas’s novel “The Three Musketeers.”
The IMDb (Internet Movie Database) lists about one hundred films and television programs in which Cardinal Richelieu is a character.
Philippe de Champaigne
Philippe de Champaigne (1602 – 1674) was a French Baroque painter, who was a founding member of the Académie de Peinture et de sculpture in Paris, the premier art institution in France.
He portrayed the entire French court, the French high nobility, royalty, senior members of the church and the state, parliamentarians and architects, and other notable people. In depicting their faces, he captured the psychological essence of the person.
Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu
- Title: Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu
- Artist: Philippe de Champaigne
- Year: 1642
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: Height: 58.7 cm (23.1″); Width: 72.8 cm (28.6″)
- Museum: National Gallery, London
Philippe de Champaigne
- Artist: Philippe de Champaigne
- Birth: 1602 – Brussels, Southern Netherlands
- Died: 1674 (aged 72) – Paris, France
- Nationality: French
- Movement: Baroque
- Notable Works:
Richelieu (1585 – 1642)
A Tour of Triple Portraits
- “Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu” by Philippe de Champaigne
- “Triple Portrait of Charles I” by Anthony Van Dyck
- “Triple Portrait of a Goldsmith” by Lorenzo Lotto
- “Allegory of Time Governed by Prudence” by Titian
A Virtual Tour of The National Gallery
13th Century Paintings
- “The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Narrative Scenes” by Margarito d’Arezzo – 1264
- “The Virgin and Child” by Master of the Clarisse – 1268
- “Crucifix” by Master of Saint Francis – 1270
14th Century Paintings
- Wilton Diptych – 1395
- “The Annunciation” by Duccio – 1311
- “The Healing of the Man Born Blind” by Duccio – 1311
15th Century Paintings
- “Arnolfini Portrait” by Jan van Eyck – 1434
- “The Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello– 1440
- “Venus and Mars” by Sandro Botticelli – 1483
- “Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan” by Giovanni Bellini– 1501
16th Century Paintings
- “Mystic Nativity” by Sandro Botticelli – 1550
- “Virgin of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci – 1506
- “The Madonna of the Pinks” by Raphael – 1507
- “The Raising of Lazarus” by Sebastiano del Piombo– 1519
- “Salvator Mundi” by Andrea Previtali – 1519
- “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Titian – 1523
- “The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the Younger – 1533
- “Mary Magdalene” by Girolamo Savoldo – 1540
- “Saint George and the Dragon” by Tintoretto – 1558
- “The Family of Darius before Alexander” by Paolo Veronese – 1567
- “Diana and Actaeon” by Titian – 1569
- “The Rape of Europa” by Paolo Veronese – 1570
- “The Death of Actaeon” by Titian – 1575
- “The Origin of the Milky Way” by Tintoretto – 1575
17th Century Paintings
- “Supper at Emmaus” by Caravaggio – 1601
- “Samson and Delilah” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1610
- “The Judgement of Paris” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1635
- “Aurora abducting Cephalus” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1637
- “Equestrian Portrait of Charles I” by Anthony van Dyck – 1638
- “Venus at her Mirror” by Diego Velázquez – 1651
- “Self Portrait at the Age of 63″ by Rembrandt – 1669
- “A Young Woman standing at a Virginal” by Johannes Vermeer – 1670
18th Century Paintings
- “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Sebastiano Ricci – 1713
- “A Regatta on the Grand Canal” by Canaletto – 1740
- “Mr. and Mrs. Andrews” by Thomas Gainsborough – 1749
- “Eton College” by Canaletto – 1754
- “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” by Joseph Wright of Derby – 1768
- “Self-portrait in a Straw Hat” by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – 1782
19th Century Paintings
- “Portrait of Doña Isabel de Porcel” by Francisco Goya – 1805
- “The Emperor Napoleon I” by Horace Vernet – 1815
- “Dido Building Carthage” by J. M. W. Turner – 1815
- “Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows” by John Constable – 1831
- “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey” by Paul Delaroche – 1833
- “The Fighting Temeraire” by Joseph Mallord William Turner – 1839
- “Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway” by J. M. W. Turner – 1844
- “Cimabue’s Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence” by Frederic Leighton – 1855
- “Madame Moitessier” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres– 1856
- “The Gare St-Lazare” by Claude Monet – 1877
- “Bathers at Asnières” by Georges Seurat – 1884
- “Sunflowers” by Vincent van Gogh – 1888
- “After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself” by Edgar Degas – 1895
- “Boulevard Montmartre at Night” by Camille Pissarro – 1898
20th Century Paintings
- “Misia Sert” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir – 1904
- “Portrait of Hermine Gallia” by Gustav Klimt – 1904
- Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses) by Paul Cézanne – 1905
- “Men of the Docks” by George Bellows – 1912
- “Water-Lilies” by Claude Monet (National Gallery, London) – 1916
Explore The National Gallery
- The National Gallery
- Masterpieces of The National Gallery
- The National Gallery, London – Crossword Puzzles
Cardinal Richelieu
Cardinal Richelieu Quotes
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“Carry on any enterprise as if all future success depended on it.”
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“Give me six lines written by the most honorable of men, and I will find an excuse in them to hang him.”
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“To know how to dissimulate is the knowledge of kings.”
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“Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.”
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“War is one of the scourges with which it has pleased God to afflict men.”
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“Had Luther and Calvin been confined before they had begun to dogmatize, the states would have been spared many troubles.”
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“Harshness towards individuals who flout the laws and commands of the state is for the public good; no greater crime against the public interest is possible than to show leniency to those who violate it.”
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“If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.”
– Cardinal Richelieu
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Photo Credit: 1) Philippe de Champaigne / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Louvre Museum / CC BY-SA 2.0 )
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