France and the Low Countries: Fruitful Exchanges
Exchanges between the Low Countries and France were constant from the Middles Ages onwards but it was really from the end of the 16th Century that Paris became a stage on the journey to Italy by painters from the North. Philippe de Champaigne, from Brussels, settled permanently in France and is today seen as a symbol of French Classicism. Painters of animals (Pieter van Boucle), still lifes and landscapes were always the most numerous to settle in France. These are the areas in which the Flemish had a decided influence on French painting.
In the 18th Century, Parisian art-lovers were seized with enthusiasm for the works of Rembrandt and his school. The pastel of the Marquis de Bonnac is a good illustration of this. Piat-Joseph Sauvage a specialist in bas-relief imitations from Tournais, spent his whole working life in France. The painting exhibited here was his reception piece for the Academie Royale in Toulouse.
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