Charles Le Brun was a painter artist, and art theorist born in Paris, France in the year 1619. Charles was something of an artistic prodigy as a boy, and by the age of eleven he was already studying art at the studio the famous painter, Simon Vouet. His career was being fostered by Chancellor Séguier, a French political figure, who saw the talent and potential that the young Charles had. It was Chancellor Séguier who set him up with his next tutor, the great François Perrier.

By the age of only fifteen Charles Le Brun received his first commission from arguably the most powerful man in France at the time, Cardinal Richelieu. This skyrocketed the young painter to fame, and he was soon on his way to Rome with his newest mentor, Nicolas Poussin. Le Brun spent the next four years studying in a studio under Poussin and living lavishly off of the money provided to them by Chancellor Séguier.

Le Brun and Poussin returned to France and headed to Paris. In Paris Le Brun was showered with commissions from some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in all of Europe. Not the least of these was a commission to paint the Queen Consort, Anne of Austria. Le Brun soon struck up a political alliance with a French politician and minister of finance, named Jean-Baptiste Colbert.

Le Brun and Colbert used their alliance to take control of Le Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, or the Academy of Painting and Sculpture in English, as well as the Academy of France at Rome. Le Brun's next major work was in 1850 on the ceiling in the gallery of Hercules inside of the Hôtel Lambert.

Following this, Charles Le Brun and Colbert founded the tapestry and furniture school studios, known as the Gobelins industrial art school. With his political power to back up his artistic decisions, Charles Le Brun had at least some influence on every official piece of art in France during his career at the academy. He is credited with the creation of the Louis XIV Style.

With such power and prestige, Le Brun soon met and befriended the King of France, Louis XIV, who commissioned several paintings. In 1661 Le Brun decorated the Château Vaux le Vicomte, and completed the painting Alexander and the Family of Darius, which was based on the life of Alexander the Great. King Louis XIV was incredibly pleased by the work, calling Le Brun the greatest French artist, and created a new post for Le Brun, called the Premier Peintre du Roi, or First Painter of the King. He was also granted the status of nobility and given a yearly salary of 12,000 livres, a vast fortune to most ordinary French subjects.

Le Brun became the director of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1663, and was put in charge of all major artistic endeavours in the Royal Palaces. During this period he painted a series, called The Battles of Alexander The Great, and founded the principals of the school of art known as academicism. He travelled to Flanders with King Louis the following year, painting several works while with the King. The decoration of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, one of King Louis XIV's royal palace, was the next major work by Le Brun.

It was in Versailles however, that Charles Le Brun is considered to have painted his best work. He finished the Salons de la Guerre de la Paix, also known as The Halls of War and Peace in English, in 1686. His next labour was the Galerie des Glaces, or Hall of Mirrors which took him from 1679 to 1684 to complete. Other famous works include Alexander and Porus, in 1673, Chancellor Séguier and his suite in 1670, and Louis XIV presenting his sceptre and his helmet to Jesus-Christ.

Charles Le Brun died in Paris in 1690 of an unknown illness, not long after his friend and political ally Jean-Baptiste Colbert, shortly after falling out of favour with Colbert's replacement, François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois. 

View Charles Le Brun Gallery