A permanent friendship - double portrait of and by Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne and Nicolas de Plattemontagne, 1654

Nicolas de Plattemontagne.

Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne.

I love the cast shadows of the palette and, especially, those of the brushes.

This painting is a record of the great friendship between two young artists, each painting the portrait of the other on the same canvas. The were both of Flemish backgrounds, both living and studying in Paris, and both were only twenty-three-years old at the time.

Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne (10 December 1631, Brussels - 27 October 1681, Paris), was the nephew of the celebrated Philippe de Champaigne and was brought to Paris when he was only thirteen to apprentice with his uncle, with whom he had more of a father/son relationship.

Nicolas de Plattemontagne (originally Nicolas van Plattenberg, his name also appears as La Montagne, Montagne, and Montaigne; 19 November 1631, Paris - 25 December 1706, Paris). His father was the Flemish painter and engraver Matthieu van Plattenberg, originally from Antwerp, who had settled in Paris. After studying with his father, he joined the studio of  Philippe de Champaigne. There he worked beside and became the lifelong friend of de Champaigne's nephew, Jean-Baptiste. (For many years, some of Plattemontagne's early works were confused with those by both of the de Champaignes.)