French painter and draughtsman. He was one of the most important
painters of historical, mythological and religious pictures in
17th-century France and one of the founders of French classicism. He was
long considered the ‘French Raphael’ and the equal of Nicolas Poussin
and Charles Le Brun. His reputation reached its zenith in the first half
of the 19th century, but since then it has been in decline, largely as a
result of the simplified and saccharine image of the man and his art
created by Romantic writers and painters. Nevertheless, more recent
recognition of the complexity of his art has resulted in a new interest
in him and in his place in the evolution of French painting in the 17th
century. Despite the almost total absence of signed and dated works, the
chronology of Le Sueur’s oeuvre can be established with the aid of a few
surviving contracts, dated engravings after his paintings and the list
of works published by Le Comte in 1700.
Caligula Depositing the Ashes of his Mother and Brother
in the Tomb of his Ancestors
1647
Oil on canvas, 167 x 143 cm
Royal Collection, Windsor
The Muse Terpsichore
1652-55
Oil on panel, 116 x 74 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris
Presentation of the Virgin
in the Temple
Jesus llevando la Cruz
Christ Healing the Blind Man
A Gathering of Friends
1640-42
Oil on canvas, 127 x 195 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris
The Muses: Clio, Euterpe and Thalia
1652-55
Oil on wood, 130 x 130 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris
The Muses: Melpomene, Erato and Polymnia
1652-55
Oil on canvas, 130 x 130 cm
Musee du Louvre, Paris
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