VOUET, Simon (1590-1649), French painter, born at Paris, January 9, 1590, passed many years in Italy, where he married, and established himself at Rome, enjoying there a high reputation as a portrait painter. Louis XIII. recalled him to France, lodged him in the Louvre with the title of First Painter to the Crown, and gave him a considerable salary. All royal work for the palaces of the Louvre and the Luxembourg was placed in his hands; the king became his pupil; he formed a large school, and renewed the traditions of that of Fontainebleau. Amongst his scholars was the famous Lebrun (who raised on the foundations laid by his master the tyranny by which he dominated the whole artistic world during the reign of Louis XIV.), Lebrun’s rival Errard, Louis Lerambert, the two Testelins, Poerson, and Dorigny. Vouet was an exceedingly skilful painter, especially in decoration, and executed important works of this class for Cardinal Richelieu (Rueil and Palais Royal) and other great nobles. His better easel pictures bear a curious resemblance to those of Sassoferrato, but, being much in demand, he fell into mannerisms, and of the enormous quantity of work produced by himself or with the aid of his pupils little has survived worth study. Almost everything he did was engraved by his sons-in-law Tortebat and Dorigny.