PAINTING. 115 
much to endure from the jealousy of Lebrun. At the command of the 
queen-mother of Louis XIV., he painted the cupola of the church of Val 
de Grace, which is indisputably the greatest fresco executed in France. It 
represents the abode of the blessed, in the midst of which queen Anne, 
conducted by St. Anna and St. Louis, presents to God the model of the 
newly erected church. The picture contains more than 200 figures, the 
largest of which are 17 feet high. Mignard then decorated with paintings 
the saloons of St. Cloud, which he finished in four years. After executing 
other works in Versailles with great success, Mignard had conferred upon 
him the title of Chevalier; and on Lebrun’s death in 1690, he received the 
appointment of first painter to the king. Mignard’s style in some of his works 
is admirable; his drawing is in the highest degree correct, and his coloring 
very beautiful. A lack of originality is, however, perceptible in all his 
works. He had a peculiar talent for imitating to the life the various styles of 
the masters whom he had studied in Italy ; and this he made use of to revenge 
himself on Lebrun. He painted a St. Magdalen in the manner of Guido, 
and let it be sold by a picture-dealer for a high price. He then caused a 
rumor to be spread about that the picture was not genuine; and the matter 
being referred to Lebrun, the latter pronounced the picture to be one of 
Guido’s finest productions. Hereupon Mignard came forward and claimed 
the work as his own; to prove which he effaced the hair of the Magdalen, 
- when she appeared decked in a red cardinal’s cap! and poor Lebrun 
became the laughing-stock of the town. 
Another pupil of Vouet was Eustache Lesueur (1617-55) who completed 
his style by the study of the Italian masters. He was soon commissioned. 
by queen Anne to adorn the little convent of the Carthusians with 22 
pictures from the life of the founder of the order, a work which procured 
him great reputation. He painted a great deal, especially allegorical and 
mythological subjects, which in his hands became very unpalatable to 
refined minds. Lesueur was never in Rome; yet his countrymen place 
him by the side of Raphael! whom he knew only by a few paintings in © 
France and by engravings. Lesueur’s pictures are excellent for his time: 
what we admire in him is correct drawing, great simplicity, and a 
coloring which, although not of ravishing perfection, is lovely and ‘free 
from faults or mannerism. Had Lesueur visited Italy and not died in the 
flower of his age, he might, it must be admitted, have approached Raphael. 
His pictures are rare, and it appears that of German galleries Berlin alone 
can show one of them. 
Charles Lebrun (1619-1690) was born in Paris, and received from his 
father, a sculptor of moderate abilities, his first instructions in drawing and 
sculpture. He then applied himself to the study of painting in the school 
of Vouet, but soon saw that the instruction he there received would not 
suffice ; accordingly he repaired to Fontainebleau, to study the works of the 
Italian masters. Here his progress was such that the king conferred upon 
him a pension to enable him to go to Rome. He there studied, under 
Poussin’s direction, chiefly the works of Raphael. Upon his return in 
1645, he began two large pictures, the Crucifixion of St. Andrew and the 
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