DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70031#0359
JESUS IN THE DESERT.
CHARLES LE DRUM.
The artist has chosen the moment in which our
Saviour, tempted by the Devil, has just put him to
flight. The angels then approach him, and present
him nourishment. They are grouped with grace and
dignity. Christ is in an attitude full of simplicity and
expression. The figures are of the natural size.
This work is not only esteemed for the richness of
the composition, but it has the peculiar merit, in
common with all the works of Le Brun, of being care-
fully executed in all its parts. When this illustrious
painter undertook this subject for the Carmelites of the
Rue St. Jaques, he was then in the prime of life, and
his talents were in their full vigour. On his return
from Italy he laid the foundation of his fame. The
pictures he painted at that epoch, and this in particu-
lar, are exempt from that weakness and uniformity so
conspicuous in his other performances. It must how-
ever be admitted, upon being appointed principal
painter to Louis XIV. that the labours imposed upon
him by that magnificent prince, should excuse, in some
measure, his defects.
Le Brun was an exact observer of costume. The
attention he bestowed on this branch of his art in-?
duced him, when he engaged on the Battles of Alex-
ander, to procure designs of the Persian horses from
Aleppo. It is only necessary to study these battle-
CHARLES LE DRUM.
The artist has chosen the moment in which our
Saviour, tempted by the Devil, has just put him to
flight. The angels then approach him, and present
him nourishment. They are grouped with grace and
dignity. Christ is in an attitude full of simplicity and
expression. The figures are of the natural size.
This work is not only esteemed for the richness of
the composition, but it has the peculiar merit, in
common with all the works of Le Brun, of being care-
fully executed in all its parts. When this illustrious
painter undertook this subject for the Carmelites of the
Rue St. Jaques, he was then in the prime of life, and
his talents were in their full vigour. On his return
from Italy he laid the foundation of his fame. The
pictures he painted at that epoch, and this in particu-
lar, are exempt from that weakness and uniformity so
conspicuous in his other performances. It must how-
ever be admitted, upon being appointed principal
painter to Louis XIV. that the labours imposed upon
him by that magnificent prince, should excuse, in some
measure, his defects.
Le Brun was an exact observer of costume. The
attention he bestowed on this branch of his art in-?
duced him, when he engaged on the Battles of Alex-
ander, to procure designs of the Persian horses from
Aleppo. It is only necessary to study these battle-