Allegory of Wealth is a circa 1640 [1] painting by the French Baroque artist Simon Vouet. Allegory of Wealth is its traditional title, though Nicolas Milovanovic argues that it should instead be entitled Allegory of Contempt for Wealth and the Louvre (where it now hangs) entitles it Allegory of Faith and of Contempt for Wealth.
Probably painted for Louis XIII's château at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, it is first mentioned in the French royal collection inventories early in the 18th century as Victory crowned with laurels holding in her arms an infant with a sash and an infant holding bracelets and precious stones. Frédéric Villot entitled it La Richesse in the mid-19th century and this title was not contested until 2015.
Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival, but the existence of important Baroque art and architecture in non-absolutist and Protestant states throughout Western Europe underscores its widespread popularity.
Nicolas Poussin was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a small group of Italian and French collectors. He returned to Paris for a brief period to serve as First Painter to the King under Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, but soon returned to Rome and resumed his more traditional themes. In his later years he gave growing prominence to the landscape in his paintings. His work is characterized by clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. Until the 20th century he remained a major inspiration for such classically-oriented artists as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Paul Cézanne.
Simon Vouet was a French painter who studied and rose to prominence in Italy before being summoned by Louis XIII to serve as Premier peintre du Roi in France. He and his studio of artists created religious and mythological paintings, portraits, frescoes, tapestries, and massive decorative schemes for the king and for wealthy patrons, including Richelieu. During this time, "Vouet was indisputably the leading artist in Paris," and was immensely influential in introducing the Italian Baroque style of painting to France. He was also "without doubt one of the outstanding seventeenth-century draughtsmen, equal to Annibale Carracci and Lanfranco."
Guillaume Coustou the Elder was a French sculptor of the Baroque and Louis XIV style. He was a royal sculptor for Louis XIV and Louis XV and became Director of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1735. He is best known for his monumental statues of horses made for the Chateau of Marly, whose replicas now stand in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
Eustache Le Sueur or Lesueur was a French artist and one of the founders of the French Academy of Painting. He is known primarily for his paintings of religious subjects. He was a leading exponent of the neoclassical style of Parisian Atticism.
Pierre Mignard or Pierre Mignard I, called "Mignard le Romain" to distinguish him from his brother Nicolas Mignard, was a French painter known for his religious and mythological scenes and portraits. He was a near-contemporary of the Premier Peintre du Roi Charles Le Brun with whom he engaged in a bitter, life-long rivalry.
Jacques Sarazin or Sarrazin was a French sculptor in the classical tradition of Baroque art. He was instrumental in the development of the Style Louis XIV through his own work as well as through his many pupils. Nearly all his work as a painter was destroyed and is only known through engravings.
Laurent de La Hyre was a French Baroque painter, born in Paris. He was a leading exponent of the neoclassical style of Parisian Atticism.
Nicolas Régnier (1591–1667), known in Italy as Niccolò Renieri, was a painter, art dealer and art collector from the County of Hainaut, a French-speaking part of the Spanish Netherlands. He is often referred to as a Flemish artist because this term was often used to designate people from the Spanish Netherlands. After training in Antwerp, he was active in Italy where he was part of the international Caravaggesque movement. His subjects include genre scenes with card players, fortune tellers, soldiers and concerts, religious scenes, saints, mythological and allegorical scenes, and portraits. He also painted a few scenes with carnivals.
Nicolas Chaperon was a French painter, draughtsman and engraver, a student in Paris of Simon Vouet whose style he adopted before he was further matured by his stay in Rome (1642–51) in the studio of Nicolas Poussin.
St Francis Xavier Church (French: Église Saint-François-Xavier or Église Saint-François-Xavier-des-Missions-étrangères is a parish Roman Catholic church in the 7th arrondissement of Paris dedicated to Francis Xavier, the patron saint of missions. Built in the late 19th century, It gave its name to the nearby Metro station Saint-François-Xavier. It contains the tomb of Madeleine Sophie Barat, a French saint of the Catholic Church and founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart, a worldwide religious institute of educators.It also known for its collection of Italian Baroque and Mannerist paintings, including a work by Tintoretto.
The musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie in the French city of Besançon is the oldest public museum in France. It was set up in 1694, nearly a century before the Louvre became a public museum.
The Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes is a municipal museum of fine arts in the French city of Rennes, the capital of Brittany. Its collections range from ancient Egypt antiquities to the Modern art period and make the museum one of the most important in France outside Paris, notably for its paintings and drawings holdings.
The Museum of Fine Arts is a fine arts museum in Reims, France.
Nicolas Pierre Loir, was a French painter and engraver of religious and historical allegories.
The Musée des beaux-arts Thomas Henry is a museum at Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche) with around 300 artworks, mainly paintings from the 15th to 19th centuries. It has been rated as the third most important collection in Normandy.
The Inspiration of the Poet is an oil-on-canvas in the classical style by the artist Nicolas Poussin, painted between 1629 and 1630. It is currently held and exhibited at the Louvre in Paris.
Christophe Cochet, known in Rome under the name Cristoforo Coscetti or Coscietti was a 17th-century French sculptor.
Virginia Vezzi, sometimes given as Virginia da Vezzo (1600–1638), was an Italian painter, and the wife of French painter Simon Vouet.
Aubin Vouet was a French painter, the son of Laurent Vouet and younger brother of Simon Vouet, both also painters.