Simon Vouet, January 9, 1590–June 30, 1649, was a French painter born in Paris. He received his first training from his father, Laurent Vouet, and traveled to Constantinople, Venice, and Rome, where he worked from 1614 and became president of the Accademia di San Luca in 1624.
Vouet married the painter Virginia da Vezzo in 1626 and returned to France in 1627 after being recalled by Louis XIII. As Premier peintre du Roi, he directed a large Paris workshop and produced religious paintings, portraits, altarpieces, and decorative schemes for royal and aristocratic patrons. His students and associates included Charles Le Brun, Eustache Le Sueur, Pierre Mignard, François Perrier, and Michel Dorigny.
Vouet remained a leading court painter until his death in Paris in 1649. His work is held by the Louvre Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, and other major collections.