Jean Lemaire (Danmartin-en-Göele 1601? - Gaillon 1659)

Lemaire was born in the village of Dammartin-en-Göele, North of Paris, probably in 1601. He is documented as living in Rome from 1624, in Via Frattina in the parish of San Lorenzo in Lucina. From 1629 he was in contact with the scholar and collector Cassiano dal Pozzo. During this period all his commissions came from members of the court of Pope Urban VIII Barberini, such as Gian Maria Roscioli and his uncle Angelo Giori. Lemaire became a member of the Accademia di San Luca in 1633 and in 1635 visited Venice. In October 1638 he completed a large-scale painting for the Spanish King Philip IV to decorate the Casón del Buen Retiro, now on display in the Prado.
He returned to Paris in 1639 and was appointed custodian of paintings by Louis XIII. He received numerous commissions from Cardinal Richelieu and members of the French nobility. When Poussin arrived in the city in 1641, Lemaire assisted him in the decoration of the Grande Galerie du Louvre. He returned to Rome in 1642 with Poussin and remained there until about 1651, when he reappeared at the French court. In 1657, he left the capital and retired to the small village of Gaillon to the North-West of Paris, where he died in 1659.