Thursday, January 15, 2015

Another Le Brun

Adoration of the Shepherds
1689

Penitent Magdalene
1655

Descent from the Cross
1648

Pieta
1643

The careerism that permitted Charles Le Brun to cover endless royal ceilings with inflated heroics evidently did not penetrate every corner of his personality. These devotional pieces are clearly expressions of honest and spontaneous feeling, to be set in the artist's favor against his eager subservience to the Sun King and his minions.