One of the greatest French painters. First taught by his father, a sculptor; then a pupil in the studio of Vouet. His fame established by the pictures, twenty-two in number, which he painted for the Chartreuse in Paris, and which represent the chief events in the life of St. Bruno, the founder of the Order. He took delight in sacred subjects, and in simple religious affection he left Lebrun and Poussin far behind him. He scarcely ever quitted Paris, never France; and his sole studies were the few exemplars from the antique which he could find in his native city. Raffaelle he could worship only through the engravings of Marcantonio. But the love of his art was boundless, his study intense, his industry inexhaustible. He excelled in purity of form, and his pictures reveal a tenderness of feeling and a spiritual grace, wholly wanting in the productions of the majority of his contemporaries. He was himself a man of mild and blameless nature. He died very early, worn out by his labours and by the active jealousy of his brother artists.
[The costume is that of the time of Louis XIII. From a marble by P. L. Laurent, done in 1806. Laurent was a pupil of Pajou, and died in 1816.]
202. Charles Lebrun. Painter.
[Born in Paris, 1619. Died 1690. Aged 71.]
One of the most celebrated painters of the French school. The Chancellor, Séguier, struck by his talent when a boy, placed him in the studio of Vouet, and subsequently sent him to Rome, where he maintained him during six years. In 1648, Lebrun was recalled to France, and admitted into the Academy. Mazarin, charmed by his works, presented him to the king, by whom he was favourably received and largely patronized. It is said that Louis XIV. would spend two hours at a time in Lebrun’s studio, whilst the artist was painting his “Battles of Alexander,” Alexander being Louis by allusion. For fourteen years, engaged in painting the great gallery of Versailles. Received many distinguished appointments in connexion with the Fine Arts, and at his instigation Louis XIV. instituted the French Academy at Rome. For many years Lebrun was as absolute in the republic of Art, as his master in the kingdom over which he ruled. He was styled “Dictator,” and his influence is perceptible in the works of his time. He was one of the vainest of men, and the most pompous, artificial, and theatrical of painters; his works, though they might swell the pride of a Court, would hardly flatter the pride of a country. His best picture is “The Stoning of Stephen,” in the Louvre.
[From the marble in the Louvre, by A. Coysevox. Extremely interesting, both on account of its being taken from the life, and having once surmounted the tomb of the great painter which was erected by order of his widow in the Church of St. Nicholas, in Paris, the tomb being also the work of Coysevox. The monument was removed at the time of the Revolution. The bust at Versailles, by Bosio (1837), takes its authority from this.]
203. André Félibien, Sieur des Avaux et de Javercy. Writer on Art.
[Born at Chartres, in France, 1619. Died in Paris, 1695. Aged 76.]
Held various appointments in connexion with art. Amongst others, those of Historiographer to the King, and Secretary to the Academy of Architecture. His best known work is “Lives of Ancient and Modern Painters,” which is translated into English. Grave and serious in character, but, right-minded and good-hearted, he preferred virtue to the favours of fortune.
204. Jean Mabillon. Antiquary.