Le Brun, Charles

(1619-1690)

   painter

   Born in Paris into a family of artists, Charles Le Brun, whose ornate, baroque designs dominated French art for two generations, was trained in Paris and later Rome, where he worked under the French classicist nicolas poussin. Returning to Paris in 1646, Le Brun gradually developed a classical style with a baroque taste for drama, naturalism, and decoration. In 1648, with jean-baptiste colbert and others, Le Brun helped to found the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, where he also served as secretary (1661) and director (1683). He painted frescoes, too, in such great châteaux as vaux-le-Vicomte and Sceaux, and in the louvre (Gallery of Apollo). Sponsored by Colbert and by Cardinal mazarin, Le Brun was made royal painter and, in 1662, was ennobled. He won King louis XIV's favor in particular with his series Histoire d'Alexandre. Responding further to Louis XlV's visions, Le Brun would make Versailles a hymn to the glory of the sovereign and a symbol of absolute monarchy. From 1679 to 1684, he directed the decoration of the palace, including the Ambassador's Stairs, the Hall of Mirrors, and plans for the gardens. He also served as director of the royal gobelins factory of tapestry and furniture, for which he provided designs. Le Brun sought to create a series of strict regulations for painting, founded on the ideas of antiquity, and of the artists Raphael and Poussin. Le Brun, describes this codification of art in his Traité de la physionomie de l'homme comparée a celle des animaux.