Sébastien Bourdon (1616–1671) was a French painter whose career embodied the restless variety of seventeenth-century Europe. Born in Montpellier to a family involved in decorative arts, he trained young and moved to Paris, where he absorbed the era’s competing ideals: Italianate grandeur, French classic order, and the vivid naturalism circulating from Caravaggio’s wake. Early work in provincial centers and travel in Italy sharpened his command of composition, figure drawing, and dramatic light. Bourdon’s great strength was adaptability. He handled sacred subjects, mythological narratives, portraits, landscapes, and scenes of everyday life with equal assurance, shifting from architectural clarity to theatrical intensity as the commission demanded. In 1648 he became a founding member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, helping shape the institutional framework that would define French art for generations. In the early 1650s he worked in Sweden at the court of Queen Christina, an experience that broadened his international reputation. Returning to Paris, he continued to paint and teach, rising within the Academy to senior leadership as rector shortly before his death. Bourdon’s legacy is a fluent synthesis—French in structure, cosmopolitan in spirit. His prints and drawings also circulated widely, cementing his influence beyond the walls of Paris.