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| Anonymous French artist Landscape 17th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
André Chastel, in his magisterial textbook on French art, could not express complete respect for the genre he referred to as composed landscapes. "The set formula reigned for nearly a century: two bouquets of dense greenery would frame a tasteful, distant scene vanishing toward a bluish horizon. The whole composition could easily be varied with the help of simple architectural follies; lighter foliage sometimes provided a diagonal line. Lighting was regulated by pre-established screens and hills, as on a stage set. Hence the landscape genre, although endowed with new dignity, unfortunately provided a lazy option for French artistic imagination."
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| attributed to Gaspard Dughet Landscape 17th century drawing British Museum |
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| Gaspard Dughet Landscape 17th century drawing British Museum |
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| Gaspard Dughet Landscape 17th century drawing British Museum |
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| Gaspard Dughet Trees 17th century drawing Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Gaspard Dughet Landscape 17th century drawing British Museum |
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| Nicolas Poussin Adoration of the Shepherds ca. 1633 drawing British Museum |
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| circle of Nicolas Poussin Bacchante 17th century drawing British Museum |
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| Simon Vouet Study of seated woman 17th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Simon Vouet Lamenting Woman 1640s drawing British Museum |
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| attributed to Simon Vouet Venus and Adonis 17the century drawing British Museum |
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| Charles Le Brun Architectural Figure 17th century drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Charles Le Brun Sacrifice of Isaac ca. 1650 drawing British Museum |
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| Charles Le Brun Ceiling design for the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles 17th century drawing British Museum |
André Chastel expressed equal reservations about Charles Le Brun, calling him "the alert, efficient coordinator of the grand manner. Thus, he could be seen as more of a great figure than a great painter – a strong personality suited to power, able to seduce Louis XIV once the king had chosen him. Le Brun was not a French Van Dyck nor a French Velázquez. His role was different. He provided a solid basis for the major projects of the reign by shaping a model organization, designed to endure, which was the Academy. His commitment was enormous, and his career, his choices, his approach, and his taste (which is difficult to accept) are, in the end, all characteristic of French inclinations and abilities."
Quotations are from French Art : The Ancien Régime 1620-1775 by André Chastel, English translation by Deke Dusinberre (New York : Flammarion, 1996)