THE STYLE OF LOUIS XIV. 2/7 



LE VAU. Louis Le Vau (1612-70) was a man of considerable and 

 versatile talent, which readily adapted itself to new conditions. Reared 

 under the influence of Mansart, he later fell under that of Le Brun 

 and acquired a more grandiose manner. He carried out a large 

 number of hdtels and chateaux for private clients, among whom were 

 Fouquet and Colbert. On Le Mercier's death (1654) he succeeded 

 him as architect to the Louvre and Tuileries, where till his death he 

 carried out important works. In the last ten years of his life he twice 

 remodelled Versailles. In addition he designed the College des Quatre 

 Nations and two important churches in Paris. As Architect to the King 

 he first received 3,000 1. and later as First Architect 6,000 1. ; he 

 also held the post of" Intendant et Ordonnateur General des bastiments 

 de sa Majeste." 



LE BRUN. Charles Le Brun (1619-90) early attracted the attention 

 of Chancellor Seguier and Cardinal Richelieu. He was enabled by 

 their patronage to travel with Poussin to Rome, where he spent four 

 years (1642-6), at a time when Pietro da Cortona was the leading 

 influence in decoration, and he there acquired that declamatory 

 manner which was more suited to the age of Louis XIV. than the 

 restrained classicism of Poussin and Le Sueur. On his return, Le Brun 

 received many commissions. One of his earliest works was in the 

 Hotel Nouveau in the Place Royale (now in the Musee Carnavalet). 

 He decorated some of the apartments in the Hotel Lambert de 

 Thorigny (1649) an ^ na d complete charge of all the decorative 

 works, including the statuary in the gardens, at Vaux-le-Vicomte. 

 He obtained the favour of Mazarin, and Colbert soon recognised in 

 him one who, by combining a remarkable talent for organisation and 

 inexhaustible activity with high and varied artistic gifts, was admirably 

 fitted to give shape to his own ideas. He held an influential position 

 in the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and in that of Architecture ; 

 he was given a post at the Board of Works, appointed Director of the 

 Gobelins, and entrusted with the decoration of all the royal palaces. 

 In 1664 when he had reached the height of his fortunes he was ennobled. 

 For the rest of his life, but more especially up to the time when 

 Colbert's death (1683) exposed him to the hostility of Louvois and 

 his protege, the elder Mignard, he controlled, through one or other 

 of the many posts he held, everything that was done for the royal 

 service. He thus exercised a dictatorship over the arts surpassing 

 even that of Primaticcio under Catharine de' Medici in completeness, 

 and was enabled to leave his imprint on all that was produced in 

 France during his lifetime. Wherever possible he made the designs 

 himself, though this was less the case in architecture proper, and always 

 superintended their execution by men of his own selection, for he 

 gathered round him from different countries a concourse of accom- 



