The French painter, decorator, and draftsman Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) served as administrator of painting and the decorative arts under King Louis XIV.

Between 1661 and 1683 Charles Le Brun was virtually dictator of all the arts in France except architecture, and he imposed a unified standard of academic performance upon all the artists who wished to enjoy official recognition. This standard served the monarchy incomparably well in its need for expressive propaganda. The Louis XIV style, formulated by Le Brun, was of a technically high order, though somewhat grandiose and ponderously uniform by today's standards. Through it, Paris replaced Rome as the artistic capital of Europe, and the maxim of Jean Baptiste Colbert, the first minister, that "it is by the dimensions of monuments that one measures kings" was fulfilled.

Born in Paris, Le Brun was the son of a sculptor. After his apprenticeship to the decorator Franç...