Charles Le Brun—Louis XIV’s Most Powerful Artist

Wolf Burchard, furniture research curator, National Trust, England. Charles Le Brun, the creator of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, was Louis XIV’s most prolific and powerful artist. In this lecture, recorded on October 6, 2017, at the National Gallery of Art, Wolf Burchard shares his new book The Sovereign Artist: Charles Le Brun and the Image of Louis XIV. This monograph examines Le Brun’s wide artistic production, illustrating the magnificence of his paintings and focusing particularly on the interiors and decorative works of art produced according to his designs. Prior to Burchard’s position at the National Trust, from 2009 to 2014 he was curatorial assistant at the Royal Collection Trust, where he cocurated The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy, 1714-1760 at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, in 2014.