116 THE FINE ARTS. 
Martyrdom of St. Stephen, whereby he founded his great reputation. 
These were succeeded by a host of other pictures, of which we can particu- 
larize only that celebrated one, painted by him at the king’s command 
and in his immediate vicinity, in which the artist represents Alexander 
after the battle of Issus, at the moment when, accompanied only by his 
friend Hepheestion, he visits the family of Darius. Lebrun was loaded 
with the highest honors and rewards, and became a sort of monarch 
of art in France. Innumerable are the designs which Lebrun executed, 
and which were transferred to tapestry or wrought into pictures by 
other artists under his supervision. About this time Lebrun completed 
some pictures which are connected with the one mentioned above; they 
are Alexander's Entrance into Babylon, the Battle of Arbela, the 
Defeat of Porus, and the Passage of the Granicus. Of the last named 
picture we have given a shaded sketch (pl..17, jig. 10); which will serve 
to convey an idea of the rich and animated compositions of this master, 
and to show how admirably he disposed his masses and managed his 
illuminations. The costume is everywhere strictly observed; and all 
is planned in such a manner as to form a living whole, that cannot 
but delight the connoisseur. As Lebrun’s coloring is not quite perfect, 
the beautiful engravings of his works by Audran generally please con- 
noisseurs better than the pictures themselves. The last great work to 
which Lebrun put his hand was the gallery of Versailles, in which he 
represented in allegorical pictures the exploits of Louis XIV. from the 
Peace of the Pyrenees to the Peace of Nimeguen; but unfortunately they 
are wholly unintelligible without a commentary and altogether failures in 
art. 
Before Lebrun, the imitation of the good Italian schools was a predomi- 
nant feature in all the works of the French. But after his time, the French 
school received a direction which carried it constantly further and further 
from the true principles of art, and the artists followed certain talented 
masters, as Coypel and Jouvenet, who exceeded the limits of the good and 
beautiful, pushed expression to exaggeration, sought to represent everything 
in violent action, and would rather satisfy the eyes of the courtiers than 
the “judgment of connoisseurs. Hence we pass over the next succeeding 
painters ; for they only prepared the way for the decline of art in France 
which Louis XIV. was unable to prevent, in spite of all his exertions and 
the enormous sums which he expended for the purpose. The feeling for 
the ideal had vanished, and there was no longer an eye for beauty or an 
appreciation of truth. The only artists who did not wholly suffer themselves 
to be borne along by the downward stream were the Vanloos (Jacques, his son 
Louis, and his grandsons Jean Baptiste and Charles André and their sons), 
and also Pierre Subleyras (1699-1749), though this last is better known in 
Italy than in France, as he there executed his chief works. Francois 
Lemoine (1688-1737) likewise deserves favorable mention. 
Jaeques Louis David, born in Paris in the year 1748, was the founder 
of a new French school, which strove to extirpate the old abuses and to 
promote the growth of true art. He was a pupil of Vien, and applied 
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