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| Nicolas Régnier Self-Portrait with an Easel ca. 1620-25 oil on canvas Harvard Art Museums |
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| Nicolas Régnier Portrait of a Young Man ca/ 1618-20 oil on canvas Detroit Institute of Arts |
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| Nicolas Régnier Penitent Magdalen before 1620 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Nicolas Régnier St John the Baptist in the Wilderness before 1620 oil on canvas private collection |
"Born in Maubeuge, Régnier was originally a pupil of Abraham Janssens. He was thereafter active in Rome in the circle of artists patronized by the Marchese Giustiniani and was chiefly influenced by Bartolomeo Manfredi. From the 1620s onwards he was active in Venice, where he died in 1667. Boschini, the foremost champion of Régnier, describes him as a man of pleasant manner and chivalrous bearing. His home in Venice was known as the center of an active social life and was often visited because of the charm of his four daughters. . . . In his early period Régnier is more closely allied to the circle of Caravaggio than is his compatriot Vouet. He prefers strong, isolated points of illumination and understands how to make his luminous skin passages stand out against a dark background. The tactile qualities in his early works are very effective, indeed so much so that the surface sometimes appears polished. Little value is placed on integrated figural groups or elegant poses; in general Régnier's interest in the pictorial appearance of individual detail is stronger than the drive toward compositional cohesion. Declamation and decorative pomp are quite foreign to his style. In his later phase he brightens his palette considerably and transforms his figures so they appear more svelte and graceful. The increasing influence of the Bolognese painters – especially Guido Reni – is very evident. The works of this period are more correct and tasteful than in his earlier phase, at times even to the point of affectation; in pictorial effect they appear cooler and smoother."
– Hermann Voss, from Baroque Painting in Rome (1925), revised and translated by Thomas Pelzel (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1997)
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| Nicolas Régnier St John the Baptist before 1620 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Nicolas Régnier Penitent Magdalen ca. 1625 oil on canvas Detroit Institute of Arts |
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| Nicolas Régnier Woman with a Mirror, or, Allegory of Vanity ca. 1626 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon |
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| Nicolas Régnier Pandora, or, Allegory of Vanity before 1667 oil on canvas Musée d'Arts de Nantes |
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| Nicolas Régnier St Jerome ca. 1633 oil on canvas Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
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| Nicolas Régnier Circe before 1667 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Nicolas Régnier Death of Sophonisba ca. 1665-67 oil on canvas New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester |
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| Nicolas Régnier Penitent Magdalen before 1667 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Nicolas Régnier Soldiers gambling for the Garments of Christ before 1667 oil on canvas Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille |
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| Nicolas Régnier Sleeper awakened by Young Woman holding a Flame ca. 1620-25 oil on canvas Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |