Allegory of Earth
ca. 1660
Medium
Brush and gray wash, over red chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink
Dimensions
11 7/8 x 8 1/4 in. (30.1 x 21 cm.)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1964
Accession Number
64.33
Tags
Art Historical Context
Charles Le Brun's *Allegory of Earth* (ca. 1660) is a captivating preparatory drawing from the height of France's Grand Siècle under Louis XIV. As the influential first painter to the king and director of the Académie Royale, Le Brun mastered allegorical imagery to embody royal power and cosmic order. This work personifies Earth through dynamic figures—including a nude female, robust men, a cornucopia symbolizing abundance, and fierce lions evoking strength—reflecting the Baroque era's fascination with elemental forces and classical mythology. Executed in brush and gray wash over red chalk, w...
About the Artist
Charles Le Brun · 1619–1690
Charles Le Brun (1619–1690) was the most powerful artistic figure in seventeenth-century France, serving as the virtual dictator of official taste during the reign of Louis XIV and shaping the visual identity of the French Baroque in ways that resonated for generations. Born in Paris, he trained under the painter Simon Vouet before traveling to Rome in 1642, where he studied the works of Nicolas P...