Laurent de La Hyre

[1] His picture of Pope Nicholas V opening the crypt in which he discovers the corpse of St. Francis of Assisi standing (located at the Louvre) was executed in 1630 for the Capuchin friars of the Marais; its gravity and sobriety seems to have been influential for the next generation of French painters, particularly Eustache Le Sueur.

[1] 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 goldsmith's company, for whom he produced in 1635 St. Peter healing the Sick (Louvre) and the Conversion of St Paul in 1637.

In 1648, La Hyre was one of the founders of the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture and was elected as one of the original twelve elders in charge of its running.

[2] Richelieu called La Hyre to the Palais Royal; Pierre Séguier, Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux and many others entrusted him with important works of decoration; for the Gobelins he designed a series of large compositions.