Overview

In his joint capacities of Premier peintre du roi, director of the Gobelins manufactory and rector of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, Le Brun exercised a previously unprecedented influence on the production of the visual arts – so much so that some scholars have repeatedly described him as ‘dictator’ of the arts in France. The Sovereign Artist explores how Le Brun operated in his diverse fields of activities, linking and juxtaposing his portraiture, history painting and pictorial theory with his designs for architecture, tapestries, carpets and furniture. It argues that Le Brun sought to create a repeatable and easily recognizable visual language associated with Louis XIV, in order to translate the king’s political claims for absolute power into a visual form. How he did this is discussed through a series of individual case studies ranging from Le Brun’s lost equestrian portrait of Louis XIV, and his involvement in the Querelle du coloris at the Académie, to his scheme for 93 Savonnerie carpets for the Grande Galerie at the Louvre, his Histoire du roy tapestry series, his decoration of the now destroyed Escalier des Ambassadeurs at Versailles and the dramatic destruction of the Sun King’s silver furniture. One key theme is the relation between the unity of the visual arts, to which Le Brun aspired, and the strong hierarchical distinctions he made between the liberal arts and the mechanical crafts: while his lectures at the Académie advocated a visual and conceptual unity in painting and architecture, they were also a means by which he attempted to secure the newly gained status of painting as a liberal art, and therefore to distinguish it from the mechanical crafts which he oversaw the production of at the Gobelins. His artistic and architectural aspirations were comparable to those of his Roman contemporary Gianlorenzo Bernini, summoned to Paris in 1665 to design the Louvre’s East façade and to create a portrait bust of Louis XIV. Bernini’s failure to convince the king and Colbert of his architectural scheme offered new opportunities for Le Brun and his French contemporaries to prove themselves capable of solving the architectural problems of the Louvre and to transform it into a palace appropriate “to the grandeur and the magnificence of the prince who [was] to inhabit it” (Jean-Baptiste Colbert to Nicolas Poussin in 1664). The comparison between Le Brun and Bernini not only illustrates how France sought artistic supremacy over Italy during the second half of the 17th century, but further helps to demonstrate how Le Brun himself wanted to be perceived: beyond acting as a translator of the king’s artistic ambition, the artist appears to have sought his own sovereign authority over the visual arts.

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9781911300052

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Reviews

Charles Le Brun held such sway over the visual arts at the court of Loius XIV that he has often been referred to as artistic 'dictator'. Wolf Burchard assesses his achievement across disciplines, from painting to interiors and tapestry design. -- Book Reviews Editor Apollo Magazines

"...cet ouvrage constitue désormais une référence incontournable par ses nombreuses mises au point et la prise en compte de la production de l’artiste dans toute sa diversité (... from now on, this publication will constitute an inescapable work of reference due to its numerous explanations and the considerations of the artists production in all its diversity). * Revue de l’art, n° 197/2017-3 * This is the best book on this ""universal man"", as some contemporaries called him, in English. Wolf Burchard brings to this labour of love the knowledge that comes from a lifelong fascination with Versailles and the reign of Louis XIV.... The Sovereign Artist is a fascinating, readable account of a supreme moment of French and court art. * The Literary Review * Assesses [Le Brun's] achievement across disciplines, from painting to interiors and tapestry design. * Apollo Magazine * It's about time ... for a reassessment of Le Brun's prolific and dizzyingly varied output, and Wolf Burchard's book, The Sovereign Artist, is just that ... Addressing distinct artistic projects in each chapter, Burchard's book frames Le Brun as a relentlessly versatile force of nature. * Art Quarterly * Beautifully presented book … Insightful analyses … Burchard's most fascinating insight is his analogy between Le Brun's designs and frontispieces for Early Modern Books … This insightful analogy forms a thread that not only connects the chapters of the book, but provides a coherent characterisation of the artist's approach to representing Louis XIV across all media. * The Art Newspaper *"

Charles Le Brun held such sway over the visual arts at the court of Loius XIV that he has often been referred to as artistic 'dictator'. Wolf Burchard assesses his achievement across disciplines, from painting to interiors and tapestry design. -- Book Reviews Editor Apollo Magazines Beautifully presented book ... a welcome addition to the growing body of literature re-evaluating the artist's oeuvre. The Art Newspaper The Sovereign Artist frames Le Brun as a relentlessly versatile force of nature. Art Quarterly

Author Information

Wolf Burchard is Associate Curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he oversaw the renovation of the museum's galleries for British art and design (2020) and curated Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts (2021). Prior to joining The Met, he was Furniture Research Curator at the National Trust (2015-18) and Curatorial Assistant at the Royal Collection (2009-14), where he co-curated The First Georgians: Art & Monarchy, 1714-1760 at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace (2014).

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