BRUN, CHARLES LE, was an artist of such eminence, as to add lustre to the age of Louis X1V. He was born in 1619 ; and, as his father (who was a sculptor by pro fession) was descended from a Scotch family, it is pro bable that the name was originally written Brown. He was not an exception from the general rule, that great excellence in any of the arts, is the result of great indus try, co-operating with strong genius. As early as the age of four, Le Brun is said to have found a substitute for the pencil, in the same expedient which supplied young Pascal with the means of describing his dia grams,—the use of coals taken from the hearth. His first production, which obtained particular admiration, was a portrait of his grandfather, taken when he was not more than twelve. Fortunately, his genius did not want all the encouragement and aid which it deserved : After having studied with great success in the school of Vouet, in his 23d year he was sent by the Chancellor Seguier to Italy, where he pursued his art during six years, under the inspection and the roof of Poussin. Though his genius led him to great designs, yet he was so well aware of the advantage of correctness in the minutest things, that he made the manners and costume of antiquity a particular study during the period of his education, which was happily prolonged till his 30th year. He now returned to Paris, where he was soon distinguished by a court the most polished in Europe, and a monarch who added to his other ambition, the more honourable emulation of the character of the most munificent patron of the fine arts. He was introduced to the king by Mazarin, and found a powerful friend in Colbert, to whom he was indebted for his appointment as the king's first painter, as well as for letters of nobility. These honours were conferred upon him in 1662. To the same minister he owed his appointment to the general direction of all the royal works. He was afterwards placed at the head of the academy of paint ing, which he greatly served, by his successful exer tions, to procure the establishment of a new school at Rome, in which young artists, selected from his country men, might be gratuitously educated. In his old age, however, Le Brun experienced mortifications arising from causes not necessarily implied in age. Colbert was removed from the superinteodance of the royal edifices. Louvois succeeded to the department, and it was natural that the new superintendant's enmity to Colbert should embrace all his favourites. If the king was not to be influenced so far as to withdraw his coun tenance from Le Brun, yet it was easy to torment a man of his character, by giving him a rival at the palace, in the person of Mignard, and by pointing the competition with all the vexations of a little and contemptible malice.
Le Brun was not of a temperament to regard these attempts upon his quiet with philosophical indifference, or with cool disdain. They shook his tranquillity, and are thought to have hastened his dissolution : he died of a decline in 1690, in the 71st year of his age. Extreme jealousy of competition seems indeed to have been the great shade in his character, unless the imputation may be thought to have arisen not so much from an excess jealousy ealousy in him beyond other professors of his art, as from his more unreserved expression of what he felt. Had he judged it necessary or decorous to make a secret of his feeling of jealousy, he would doubtless have suppressed the expression of satisfaction, after his visit to another and a formidable rival, Le Sueur, in his last illness, on which occasion he was heard to say, that death was going to take a great thorn out of hls foot. The discredited report that he had procured his rival's death, by poison, is a proof, both of the prevail ing opinion of his jealousy, and of the scandalous illiberality of his enemies. The merit of Le Brun, as a painter, was such, that few have had less cause for ap prehension from competition. His genius, and the course of his studies, engaged him in lofty designs, in the execution of which, the historical propriety, good ordonnance, and just expression, are particu larly admired. As a colourist, he is entitled to less praise ; and in drapery and ornament, by departing from simplicity, he has betrayed considerable deficiency of taste. As a writer, he is well known by his two works, one on physiognomy, and the other on the pas sions, the latter of which contained figures, which have been much used as models for drawing. It is mentioned, in proof of his solicitude to unite correctness of execu tion with grandeur of design, that his figures were all drawn naked, and afterwards clothed ; and it is related of him, that when he was employed about his great work, the battles of Alexander, he obtained models of Persian horses, drawn for the purpose at Aleppo. The other most celebrated productions of his pencil are, St John in the isle of Patmos, the carrying of the cross, the crucifixion, and the penitent magdalen. He has gained less reputation by his paintings in the great gallery at Versailles, which occupied him during fifteen years oc his life, and in which he has exhibited, in allegory, the great events of the reign of Louis X1V. In this work the artist was instructed and trammelled by the courtier ; and, if to say, materienz superat opus, is but restricted praise, it is all that could be required, in a labour that was rather imposed by interest than chosen by the judgment. See D'4-1rgenvillc Vies des Peintres.
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