Trained in his homeland under Quentin Varin, around 1612 he went to Paris to work in the studios of S. Lallement and F. Elle, where he received his first commissions for works that have not come down to us. In 1620 P. made his first trip to Italy, to Florence, from where he soon returned to Paris, beginning the prolific series of compositions of mythological inspiration that were to make him famous. In 1624 P. was again in Italy, in Rome, a city he did not leave until his death, with the exception of a relatively brief stay in Paris between 1640 and 1642. It was in Rome that he created the best of his output, especially in those canvases of historical and mythological inspiration alluded to above, in which the solemn lines of the rolling countryside surrounding the city and its monumental ruins, more than mere backdrop, often become true protagonists of the compositions. Among these, scattered in the major public and private collections of the world, some religious subjects should also be noted, such as *The Lamentation over Christ* in the Pinacoteca of Munich, *The Ecstasy of St. Paul* in the Louvre, *The Last Supper* in the same museum, and finally *The Martyrdom of St. Erasmus* in the Vatican Pinacoteca.
Initially educated in a moderately traditionalist environment, P. had his genius revealed to him by considering the works of Raphael and his direct followers. During his stay in Italy, especially those works were before him as he progressed on his path, even when he enriched himself with new experiences gained from deepening his knowledge of the painting of Titian, the Carracci, and Domenichino.
Of a serene temperament, an excellent draftsman, a calm and balanced composer, P. was above all a great colorist. Indeed, he knew how to trace back through the Carraccesque vein to the pure source of Venetian color, even capturing certain accents proper to Giorgione, Sebastiano del Piombo, and the young Titian. A characteristic exponent of that group of foreigners in love with Italy and who long dwelt there productively, P. preserved in his art the straightforwardness of French character and, though living far from his homeland, decisively and enduringly influenced the developments of its pictorial culture. Even David, in his programmatic paintings in Rome and France at the end of the 18th century, recalled P., and even Corot, in his youthful Roman landscapes, knew how to rediscover some secrets of the old master in the profound harmony of juxtaposed tones and the clear distribution of masses defined by limpid light. — See pl. CXXV.