(Anthony le), an ambassador of Spain, famous for his skill in negotiating, was of an ancient and noble family, and born at Dole in the year 1600. He was attorney-general in the parliament of Dole; during which time he had a hand in all the state negotiations which concerned the provinces. He was sent afterwards by Philip IV. to the diet of Ratisbon, and from thence to the court of the emperor Ferdinand III. He was one of the plenipotentiaries of his Catholic majesty, at the conferences of Munster held in 1643; where, though all the other plenipotentiaries took place of him, yet it is said that he far exceeded them all in capacity. The king of Spain was particularly beholden to him for the peace which the Dutch made at Munster, exclusively of France; and the intriguing turn which he showed upon this occasion made him dreaded ever after by French ambassadors. He was a man of letters, as well as of politics; and therefore employed his pen as well as his tongue in the service of his master. He died at the Hague, during his embassy, in the year 1654.

(Charles le), was descended of a family of distinction in Scotland, and born in the year 1619. His father was a statuary by profession. He discovered, it is said, such an early inclination for painting, that at three years of age he used to take coals, and design on the hearth and sides of the chimney, only by the light of the fire; and at 12 he drew the picture of his uncle so well, that it still passes for a fine piece. His father being employed in the gardens at Sequier, and having brought his son along with him, the chancellor of that name took a liking to him, and placed him with Simon Vouet, an eminent painter. He was afterwards sent to Fontainbleau, to take off some of Raphael's pieces. He sent him next to Italy, and supported him there for six years. Le Brun, in his return, met with the celebrated Poussin, by whose conversation he greatly improved himself in his art, and contracted a friendship with him which lasted as long as their lives. A painting of St Stephen, which he finished in 1651, raised his reputation to the highest pitch. Soon after this, the king, upon the representation of Mr Colbert, made him his first painter, and conferred on him the order of St Michael. His majesty employed two hours every day to see him work, while he was painting the family of Darius at Fontainbleau. About the year 1662, he began his five large pieces of the history of Alexander the Great, in which he is said to have set the actions of that famous conqueror in a more glorious light than Quintus Curtius hath done in his history. He procured several advantages for the royal academy of painting and sculpture at Paris, and formed the plan There was scarce any thing done for the advancement of the fine arts in which he was not consulted. It was thro' the interest of M. Colbert that the king gave him the direction of all his works, particularly of his royal manufactory at the Gobelins, where he had a handsome house with a genteel salary assigned to him. He was also made director and chancellor of the royal academy, and showed the greatest zeal to encourage the fine arts in France. He was endowed with a vast inventive genius, which extended itself to arts of every kind. He was well acquainted with the manners and history of all nations. Besides his extraordinary talents, his behaviour was so genteel, and his address so pleasing, that he attracted the regard and affection of the whole court of France, where, by the places and pensions conferred on him by the king's liberality, he made a very considerable figure. Le Brun was the author of two treatises; one on physiognomy, and the other on the different characters of the passions. He died at Paris in 1690.

The talent of this painter, except for landscapes, was universal. He was not indeed admired for his colouring, nor for his skill in the distribution of his lights and shadows; but for a good gusto of design, an excellent choice of attitudes, an agreeable management of his draperies, a beautiful and just expression, and a strict observance of decorum. In fine, his compositions demand the attention and admiration of the nicest judges. The pieces that gained him greatest reputation were, besides what we have already mentioned, those which he finished at Fontainbleau, the great stair-case at Versailles, but especially the grand gallery there, which was the last of his works, and is said to have taken him up 14 years.