- LEBRUN, Charles
(1619—90)
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Painter
- Charles Lebrun was the virtual dictator of the arts in France
under Louis XIV, until the death of his protector Colbert. He was the type
of artist-politician, and as early as 1641 he gained
Richelieu's patronage
with
an allegorical portrait of King Louis XIII. He was a pupil of
Vouet
and went
to Rome, probably with Poussin, in 1642; he studied partly under Poussin and
partly from the works of the Roman Baroque decorators, such as Pietro da
Cortona. He returned, without permission, in 1646, as he was bored with
Rome. In 1647 he exhibited an altarpiece for Notre Dame (Mai), which
began his success, and in 1648 he had so far taken over
Vouet's position
that
he was one of the leaders in the foundation of the Academy in 1648. He was
to be Rector, Chancellor and Director of it. He began the decorations for
Vaux-le-Vicomte, for the minister Fouquet, in 1658. After Fouquet's fall,
Colbert recognized Lebrun's talent as well as the advantages of a centralized
institution as an instrument of policy, and advanced Lebrun,
who became
director of the huge undertakings at the Gobelins factory as well as premier
peintre in 1664 (he had received his first Royal commission in 1661). In 1665
Bernini arrived in Paris, where he seems to have been critical of Lebrun's gifts.
This may have some connection with the sabotaging of Bernini's plans
for the
Louvre and the general failure of his visit: on the other hand, Lebrun was
elected to the Academy of St Luke in Rome in 1675 and made Director in the
same year (and in 1676). For the French Academy he laid down a strict system
of rules and even wrote a treatise on the expression of the passions (Methode
pour apprendre a dessiner les Passions, 1698).
His most important paintings are at
Versailles, where he decorated the Galerie des Claces (1679—84) and the Salons
de la Guerre and de la Paix (completed 1686). After the death of Colbert in 1683
Lebrun, though promoted Director of the Academy in that year, was gradually
superseded by Mignard.
There are paintings by him in Bristol, Cambridge,
Detroit, Dublin, London (V&A, Dulwich), Montreal, Munich, Nottingham,
Ottawa, Paris (Louvre), Prague, Venice, Wakefield and many French provincial
museums. There are about 2,000 drawings by him in the Louvre.
- Source: The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists (Penguin Reference Books)
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