23 JUNE 2007, Page 45

Philippe de Champaigne (1602-74), a Flemish-born F

Philippe de Champaigne (1602-74), a Flemish-born French painter, may be familiar to audiences this side of the Channel from his magnificent triple portrait of Richelieu in the National Gallery, but he is hardly a household name. The Palais des Beaux- Arts in Lille is hoping to change all that with the first retrospective of his work for more than 50 years (until 15 August). The title of the exhibition, Politics and Spirituality, reflects the artist's twin preoccupations: the spiritual and the temporal. He enjoyed formidable royal and political patronage — Marie de'Medici, Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu (of whom he painted 11 portraits) — and was an extraordi- narily skilled portraitist. But it is his religious paintings, which trace the develop- ment of his spiritual aesthetic, that give voice to the profound faith that was his driv- ing force. In 'Ex-Voto', 1662, above, loaned by the Louvre, Champaigne celebrates his nun daughter's miraculous recovery from paralysis. Highly recommended and just a short hop away from London on Eurostar. Lucy Vickery