Portrait painter, historical painter, and religious painter of the French Baroque whose greatest work is thought to be the "Ex Voto de 1662" (1662; Louvre), depicting the miraculous cure of his daughter, a nun of the heterodox Jansenist Catholic convent of Port Royal.
Reaching Paris in 1621, Champaigne soon was employed with the classical Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin on nthe decoration of the Luxembourg Palace.
His career progressed rapidly under the patronage of the queen mother Marie de Médicis and Cardinal Richelieu.
Appointed painter royal (1627) and professor of the Royal Academy (1653, later its rector), he created many works for the palaces and churches of Paris.
He is perhaps at his best in his natural, lifelike portraits, whose subjects include Richelieu and King Louis XIII.
Blending Flemish, French and Italian elements, his work is characterized by a brilliant colour sense and monumental figures, but sober, somewhat weak composition.
The degree of Jansenism in his thought is reflected in his theory of art, and his emphasis on drawing probably originated the drawing versus colour controversy that troubled the French Academy until well into the 18th century.
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