Eustache Le Sueur

Who was Eustache Le Sueur?

Eustache Le Sueur or Lesueur, one of the founders of the French Academy of Painting, was born in Paris, where he passed his whole life.

His early death and retired habits led to various fables attaching to his life, in a similar way to Claude Lorrain. We are told that, persecuted by Le Brun, who was jealous of his ability, he became the intimate friend and correspondent of Poussin, and it is added that, broken-hearted at the death of his wife, Le Sueur retired to the monastery of the Chartreux and died in the arms of the prior.

All this, however, is pure fiction. The facts of Le Sueur's life are these. He was the son of Cathelin Le Sueur, a turner and sculptor in wood, who placed his son with Vouet, in whose studio he rapidly distinguished himself. Admitted at an early age into the guild of master-painters, he left them to take part in establishing the academy of painting and sculpture, and was one of the first twelve professors of that body.

Some paintings, illustrative of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which were reproduced in tapestry, brought him into notice, and his reputation was further enhanced by a series of decorations in the mansion of Lambert de Thorigny, which he left uncompleted, for their execution was frequently interrupted by other commissions. Amongst these were several pictures for the apartments of the king and queen in the Louvre, which are now missing, although they were entered in Bailly's inventory; but several works produced for minor patrons have come down to us.