Jacob Ferdinand Voet Queen Christina of Sweden (1626 - 1689) About 1670 - 1675

Biography

Born 1639
Died 1700
Nationality Flemish

Voet was born in Antwerp in 1639, but spent a considerable part of his career in Rome. He became the most sought after portrait painter in the city until his departure in 1679. Voet was the chosen painter of noble Roman families and aristocratic tourists conducting their Grand Tours of Italy. He famously painted a series of beautiful women dressed in fashionable lace and wearing gowns with plunging necklines in the French style. Although popular among some of his patrons, risqué portraits such as these were frowned upon by Pope Innocent XI’s sober papacy, and in 1678 Voet was forced to leave Rome in disgrace. In the 1680s he worked for the House of Savoy in Piedmont. His colourful portraits were also popular among the aristocracy in France, where he spent his final years before his death.