VALENTIN, LOUIS DE BOULLONGNE, DETTO IL

**VALENTIN, LOUIS DE BOULLONGNE,** known as il. Painter, b. at Coulommiers (Brie) in 1592, d. at Rome in Aug. 1632.

He worked extensively in Rome for Cardinal Francesco Barberini; documented works from his early period are lacking, but numerous others are known, datable after 1526. Among the finest are the *Buona ventura* in the Louvre, the *Martyrdom of Sts. Processus and Martinian* in the Vatican Pinacoteca, *Christ Driving the Money-Changers from the Temple* and *The Last Supper* in the Galleria Nazionale di Roma, the two *Crowning with Thorns* in Munich, the *Herodias* and the *Holy Family with St. John* in the Galleria Spada in Rome, and the paintings in Dresden, Toulouse, and Tours. Alongside Serodine, V. is among the most vivid Caravaggisti masters of the third decade of the century; in his most elevated accents, of violent dramatic power, he reveals his personal interpretation of Caravaggio’s world.

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BIBL.:** H. Voss, *Die Malerei des Barock in Rome*, Berlin 1925, pp. 454-55; R. Longhi, *I pittori della realtà in Francia, ovvero i caravaggeschi francesi del Seicento*, in *Italia Letteraria*, 19 Jan. 1935; id., *Ultimi studi sul Caravaggio e la sua cerchia*, in *Proporzioni*, 1 (1943); G. Isarlov, *Caravage et le caravagisme européen*, Catalogues, Aix 1941; F. Hermann, *Cat. della Mostra dei dipinti francesi in Italia*, Rome 1946; *Mostra del Caravaggio*, *Catalogo, Milano Pal. Reale*, Florence 1951. Luisa Mortari