Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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This triple portrait was intended as a model for a full-length statue of Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu (1585–1642), who became Cardinal in 1622 and the Chief Minister of France in 1624. He wears a Cardinal’s robe, skull cap and blue ribbon adorned with the Order of the Holy Spirit, symbolised by the dove at the bottom of the painting. The head is repeated in this painting in three different poses: facing forward and in profile turned to the right and left. The central portrait relates to the artist’s full-length painting Cardinal de Richelieu, also in the National Gallery. The triple portrait was executed in Paris and sent to Rome to the Italian sculptor Francesco Mochi (1580–1654) in around 1642. Champaigne probably painted the central and right heads: an inscription above the latter reads: ‘this is the better one’.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu

Date

probably 1642

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 58.7 x W 72.8 cm

Accession number

NG798

Acquisition method

Presented by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, 1869

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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