Vesper [Le Soir]

1642

He travels to Rome with Poussin

In 1642 he sets out for Rome with Poussin; thanks to a scholarship from Chancellor Séguier he works there for four years under Poussin, studies ancient Roman sculpture, copies Raphael and meets local artists.

1648

The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture is founded

Le Brun is the driving force behind the creation of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture and is elected one of its original twelve elders in charge of its running.

1660

The Gobelins Manufactory is founded

With Colbert he founds the Gobelins manufactory — at first a great school producing not only tapestries but every kind of furniture required for the royal palaces; Le Brun becomes its director and through it commands the industrial arts.

1661

A commission for a series on Alexander the Great

Louis XIV commissions from Le Brun a series of paintings from the history of Alexander the Great, meant to show the symbolic link between Alexander's deeds and the splendour of the Sun King; cartoons for the tapestry series “The History of Alexander the Great” (1664 — 1680s) are made from them, and the series is repeated eight times.

December 1662

Louis XIV ennobles Le Brun

The king is so delighted with the first picture of the series, “Alexander and the Family of Darius”, that he at once ennobles the artist and grants him a pension of 12,000 livres, the same sum he had received yearly in Fouquet's service. From then on everything done in the royal palaces is directed by Le Brun.

12 February 1690

Died