VALENTIN, LOUIS DE BOULLONNE, called. - Painter, born at Coulommiers (Brie) in 1592, died at Rome in August 1632.
He worked extensively in Rome for Card. Francesco Barberini; no documented works survive from his youthful period, whereas numerous others are known, datable after 1520. Among the best are the Fortune Teller in the Louvre, the Martyrdom of Saints Processo and Martiniano in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple and The Last Supper in the Galleria nazionale in Rome, the two Crowning with Thorns paintings in Munich, the Herodias and the Holy Family with St. John the Baptist as a Child in the Galleria Spada in Rome, and the paintings in Dresden, Toulouse, and Tours. Alongside Serodine, V. was among the most vital Caravaggesque masters of the third decade of the century; in his highest notes, marked by violent dramatic power, he reveals his personal interpretation of the world of Caravaggio.