Cardinal de Richelieu

The cross on Cardinal Richelieu's chest helps date this picture. It is the badge of the Order of the Holy Spirit, the highest order of knighthood in France, which he received in May 1633, so the portrait cannot be earlier. That same year he bought the château of Rueil, west of Paris, where he spent heavily on the gardens. The tidy lawn and pruned trees seen through the arch on the left may be those grounds. Champaigne shows him standing at full length, a daring choice for a churchman in French portraits of the day, and one that presents the statesman as much as the priest. The chair behind him may stand for his office as the king's chief minister. Several versions exist, and the National Gallery's catalogue treats this one, painted between 1633 and 1640, as the prime version.