LE BRUN.

Ir the French school of painting be inferior to that of Rome and Florence in severity of character and in correctness and elegance of forms; to the Flemish and Venetian schools in truth of colouring and vigour of pencil, it cannot be denied that it is equal to either in propriety and grandeur of conception, in agreement of parts, and in beauty of composition. It may be urged that the genius of Poussin has had considerable influence over the artists of his country, who, for the most part, have evinced a disposition to follow the national taste, that is, smitten, with what is grand. This correct taste, for a time disregarded towards the end of the reign of Louis XV. and which the great artists of the present day have revived, never had greater dominion than under Louis XIV. who, zealous of every species of glory, well knew how to give to the arts a new degree of splendour and elevation. It is well known that this monarch, disgusted with the grotesque compositions of the Flemish painters, took infinite pleasure in contemplating the paintings of Le Brun, whose pencil was at once dignified and prolific, magnificent and correct.

Charles le Brun was born at Paris in 1619. He was the son of an indifferent sculptor, and exhibited, at an early period, uncommon talents. At twelve years of age he painted the portrait of his grandfather, and at fifteen produced two pictures that, for a considerable time, decorated the cabinet of the Duke d'Orleans. The chancellor Seguier, his patron, placed him as a disciple with

Vouet, and furnished him afterwards with the means of travelling to Rome. Le Brun visited that city in 1643, and formed an intimacy with Poussin, who felt pleasure in assisting him by his advice. He at first took that great painter as his model; but attracted by the manner of Annibal Caracci, he formed a style that seemed to partake of the excellencies of both these distinguished masters; but, through want of care in the execution, contributed less to the perfection of his works, than to increase their number. On his return to Paris, after an absence of six years, Le Brun, under the patronage of Fouquet, stepped suddenly forward from a crowd of artists to occupy a place which Le Sueur only was entitled to dispute. We are assured even that Le Brun, who was sensible of the merit of his modest rival, exerted upon all occasions his influence to check him in his career, and frequently endeavoured to injure his reputation.

Nevertheless, the fame of Le Brun daily increased, and Louis XIV. who had appointed him his first painter, urged him to undertake very extensive works. It was in vain that his courtiers opposed him by Mignard; Le Brun still retained the favour of the prince, and upheld, by the numerous excellent pictures he produced, the title with which he had been honoured. In truth, the famous battles of Alexander placed Le Brun on the first rank in this species of painting, which the Italian school has not surpassed; and of which the Italians were themselves convinced, when they beheld the engravings of these battles by Andran. The execution of these pictures does not at all times correspond with the beauty of the subject, and the grandeur and the originality of the idea. It is also to be regretted, that they display not more correctness in the drawing, more variety in the air of the heads, har

mony in the colouring, and a more vigorous touch; but by how many estimable qualities are not these defects eclipsed-the greater part of which may be attributed to the unskilfulness of his scholars, whom Le Brun was compelled to set to work after his sketches, to the infinite number of works upon which he was employed, and which he had not always leisure to retouch.

When Le Brun obtained the supreme direction of all the works ordered by the king, this singular favour was necessarily injurious to the progress of the arts. Thè painters attached to the court, obliged to adopt the designs of Le Brun, were unavoidably led to offer in their compositions that conformity, or rather monotony, of style, observable in the greater part of the works of that. time. But, in making this remark, Le Brun should not be too rigorously accused, whose conduct has ever proved that he was actuated by no other motive than the glory of the art. The Royal Academy of Painting is indebted to him for its existence; and, notwithstanding the opposition he met with from several of its members, he never ceased employing all his interest to render it permanent. He likewise solicited admission into that of Rome, where he particularly justified the title with which he had been honoured, of "Prince of the Academy of St. Luke," which was conferred upon him two years successively, notwithstanding the statutes that interdict the bestowal of such a distinction upon a stranger. Many artists have not failed to acknowledge the services they received from Le Brun; nor was he ever the enemy of Mignard, though he indulged towards him the most intolerable rancour. At length a lingering illness compelled Le Brun to retire from court to his manufactory at the Gobelins, of which he was the director, and where he died in the year 1690,