Born in Paris, Charles Le Brun studied in Rome under the influential Nicolas Poussin before returning to France as Louis XIV’s favored artist. As director of the Académie Royale and... View More

Born in Paris, Charles Le Brun studied in Rome under the influential Nicolas Poussin before returning to France as Louis XIV’s favored artist. As director of the Académie Royale and superintendent of royal buildings, he orchestrated the decorative program of Versailles—including the Galerie des Glaces and State Apartments—imprinting the king’s absolutist ideology onto architecture and painting.

Le Brun codified a “hierarchy of genres” in painting and developed the Expression des Passions treatise, linking facial gestures to emotions—a foundational work for both art theory and later theatrical studies. His ability to manage massive collaborative projects made him the de facto artistic dictator of Louis XIV’s reign. Though his style later fell out of favor, his integration of art, politics, and spectacle set a model for European courts.