Biography

Louis Finson (also Ludovicus Finsonius), Flemish painter. He was the son of the painter Jacques Fynson (d before 1609) and trained in his father's studio in Bruges; the influence of Netherlandish Mannerism is strong in his work. At some time early in the 17th century he travelled to Italy; he was certainly in Naples by 1608 and may also have previously spent some time in Rome. It is not certain whether he was a pupil of Caravaggio, but he is known to have copied many of Caravaggio's works and to have owned at least two of his paintings, one of which was the Madonna of the Rosary (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), which Finson bought with Abraham Vinck (1580-1621), perhaps as early as 1607.

After 1612 Finson visited Spain and then France, arriving in Marseille early in 1613. He was already a painter of considerable repute and continued to enjoy much success in Provence and to command large sums for his paintings. From Marseille he was called to Aix-en-Provence by Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, who commissioned from him a series of portraits and altarpieces. For the cathedral of St Sauveur in Aix, Finson executed the Incredulity of St Thomas (in situ). He was later commissioned to paint an altarpiece for the main altar of St Trophime in Arles. In 1614 Finson travelled to Montpellier and then to Paris; arriving there early in 1615, he painted a Circumcision (version, Paris, St Nicolas-des-Champs). In 1616 he is recorded back in the Low Countries, and he executed his last will on 19th September 1617 in Amsterdam.