Charles Le Brun was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of all time". Le Brun was a dominant figure in 17th-century French art and was influenced by Nicolas Poussin.
Charles Le Brun, portrait by Nicolas de Largillière
Portrait of Nicolas Le Brun by Charles Le Brun, c. 1635, Residenzgalerie, Salzburg
Venus Clipping Cupid's Wings, c. 1655, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Part of the ceilling of the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles
Physiognomy or face reading is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without reference to its implied characteristics—as in the physiognomy of an individual plant or of a plant community.
Lithographic drawing illustrative of the relation between the human physiognomy and that of the brute creation, by Charles Le Brun (1619–1690).
Illustration in a 19th-century book about physiognomy
Giambattista Della Porta, De humana physiognomonia (Vico Equense [Naples]: Apud Iosephum Cacchium, 1586
Johann Kaspar Lavater