RÉGNIER, Nicolas
(b. 1591, Maubeuge, d. 1667, Venice)

The Fortune Teller

c. 1625
Oil on canvas, 127 x 150 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Régnier is documented in Rome from 1620, when he is known to have been living with Dirk van Baburen and David de Haen in the district of Sant'Andrea della Valle, but he probably arrived in the city some years prior to that date. Régnier's paintings from his Roman period are markedly Caravaggesque in subject matter and style. As well as being influenced by Bartolomeo Manfredi (as Valentin de Boulogne had also been) Regnier's works can also be closely associated with those of the Frenchman Simon Vouet, alongside whom he worked in Rome from 1622 (year in which Vouet returned to Rome from Genoa) to 1625 (year in which Régnier left Rome for Venice).

This strongly Caravaggesque painting was painted towards the end of Régnier's Roman stay.