LAHIRE, Laurent de (1606-1656), French painter, was born at Paris on 27th February 1606. He became a pupil of Lallemand, studied the works of Primaticcio at Fontainebleau, but never visited Italy, and belongs wholly to that transition period which preceded the school of Simon Vouet. His picture of Nicolas V. opening the crypt in which he discovers the corpse of St Francis of Assisi standing (Louvre) was executed in 1630 for the Capuchins of the Marais; it shows a gravity and sobriety of character which marked Lahire’s best work, and seems not to have been without influence on Le Sueur. The Louvre contains eight other works, and paintings by Lahire may also be found in the museums of Strasburg, Rouen and Mans. His drawings, of which the British Museum possesses a fine example, Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, are treated as seriously as his paintings, and sometimes show simplicity and dignity of effect. The example of the Capuchins, for whom he executed several other works in Paris, Rouen, and Fécamp, was followed by the goldsmiths’ company, for whom he produced in 1635 St Peter healing the Sick (Louvre) and the Conversion of St Paul in 1637. In 1646 he shared with eleven other artists the honour of founding the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Richelieu called Lahire to the Palais Royal; Chancellor Séguier, Tallemant de Réaux, and many others entrusted him with important works of decoration; for the Gobelins he designed a series of large compositions. Lahire painted also a great number of portraits, and in 1654 united in one work for the town-hall of Paris those of the principal dignitaries of the municipality. Two years later, 28th December 1656, he died. His works have been frequently engraved by his own pupil Chauveau, and by Lasne, ...