Charles Le Brun

Charles Le Brun shaped the look of Louis XIV’s France. As First Painter to the King he designed ceilings, tapestries, furniture and whole interiors, and his grand, ordered style of history painting became the official style of the court.

Born in Paris, he trained with Simon Vouet and worked in Rome with Nicolas Poussin, whose classical discipline stayed with him. He co-founded the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1648 and later directed it, and he ran the Gobelins workshops that produced furnishings for the royal palaces. His greatest project is the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles (1679 to 1684). His series on the life of Alexander the Great, which first won the king’s favour, is in the Louvre.

Alexander and Porus, from that series, and his portrait of Chancellor Séguier on horseback show his two sides: vast staged drama and dignified portraiture.