French baroque artist. Court painter to Louis XIV from 1662, he became director of the French Academy and of the Gobelins factory, which produced art, tapestries, and furnishings for the new palace of Versailles. In the early 1640s he studied under Poussin in Rome, returning to Paris 1646. As director of the Academy, and with the patronage of the powerful minister Colbert, he became the virtual dictator of art in France, ensuring through commissions and training that the arts and crafts served to glorify the reign of Louis XIV, the ‘Sun King’. He worked on large decorative schemes, including the Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) at Versailles 1679–84, and painted official portraits. The son of a sculptor, he showed precocious talent, and having studied under Vouet and Poussin, he became a painter to the king at 19 and was a founder-member of the French Academy 1648. He was patronized by Fouquet, for whom he decorated the Château de Vaux, then by Colbert, who found in him the perfect…