Fine Art Tuesday

Alexander and Porus, Charles Le Brun, 1673

(This week’s Fine Art Tuesday’s work was inspired by this article from War History Online.)

Charles Le Brun was a French painter and art theorist, working in the Baroque style . He was “First Painter to the King”, that king being Louis XIV. Louis declared him “The greatest French artist of all time.” 

Le Brun’s work was mostly for Louis, and included many physically large pieces of art, a chateau ceiling, and the decoration of the palace at Versailles. His work and theories influenced European art for the next 200 years. Another artist whose genius was appreciated during his life, he fell out of favor with the art world until the 1960s. Due to his enmity with a French minister, most of his works were placed under seal for centuries and few are found outside France.