Charles LeBrun – The First Painter to the King
The Founder of The French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
Feb 21, 2009
LeBrun’s career encompassed the supervision of artistic production in the last half of the 17th century. The leading proponent of French Neoclassicism, he was behind the institutionalization of art study and practice. Under LeBrun’s direction, the French Academy became the model for academies of art across Europe.
Child Prodigy
Charles LeBrun was born in Paris. He began to draw at the age of three using charcoal. Still a child, he continued to broaden his range of skills by clay modelling and wood carving. He was apprenticed to Simon Vouet, famous for introducing the classicizing Baroque style into France.
By the age of 15 he had obtained commissions from Cardinal Richelieu, who, impressed by the young artist’s mastery, showed his paintings to Nicolas Poussin In 1642 LeBrun set off for Rome to become Poussin’s pupil of four years and to study classical Roman art.
After returning to Paris, the number of his powerful high-society patrons significantly increased. He received large-scale commissions. In 1650 Nicolas Fouquet, the minister of finance, entrusted LeBrun with the large-scale and complex decorative scheme for his palace at Vaux-le-Vicomte. This commission became a landmark in consolidating LeBrun’s reputation and eventually led to securing royal patronage.
The Court Artist to the Sun King
Louis XIV was so impressed by LeBrun’s work at Fouquet’s palace that he commissioned LeBrun to paint the so-called Alexander cycle, a series of episodes from the life of Alexander the Great. LeBrun appropriated the subject to the conventions of the contemporary royal court with Louis being likened to Alexander. The cycle had a special resonance with Louis XIV, who saw himself as the present day Alexnder, and he gave LeBrun the title of the official painter to the king. From then on, all the royal commissions flowed automatically to LeBrun, who was responsible for the artistic programme of Versailles.
French National Style of Decorative Arts
When Jean-Baptiste Colbert took over the position of finance minister from Fouquet, he recognized LeBrun’s organizational facilities and technical mastery and appointed him director of the Gobelins factory in 1663. Under LeBrun’s direction the factory expanded into a major enterprise manufacturing furnishings for all the royal residences and public buildings. LeBrun literally created a decorative style which evolved into a national style. He personally designed and supervised the artistic and decorative production of the projects commissioned by the French government and by the court.
When Colbert became Minister of Fine Arts in 1663, he recruited LeBrun in a bid to consolidate artistic production by controlling the official institutions of art. Together, they took control over the Academy of Painting and Sculpture which was reorganized with Le Brun as director and in 1666 they organized the French Academy at Rome. These actions resulted in establishing a unified, homogenous academic style. The Academy under LeBrun became an organization that controlled all artistic production in France.
LeBrun’s success was undoubtedly connected to the contemporary political milieu. France in the 17th century was at the height of its power. Arts played a major role in state propaganda with the glorification of the king and his realm at the centre of an official artistic programme. In this light, LeBrun as the First Painter to the King drew on the classical sources of inspiration and appropriated them in order to elevate the status of the ruler of France.
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