CHARLES ALPHONSE DU, a poet and painter, was born at Paris in 1611. He was instructed by Perrier and Simon Vouet in painting; but he did not long adhere to Vouet's manner of colouring; for as soon as he had fixed himself at Rome, he made the works of Titian the models for his imitation. He was, however, more celebrated as a poet than as a painter, and gave more attention to the theory than to the practice of the pencil. Accordingly he is better known by his celebrated poem De Arte Graphica than by his performances on the canvas; and on this work he bestowed so much labour that he died in 1665, before it was published. It was printed afterwards with a French prose translation and notes by M. de Piles, and was translated into English by Dryden, who prefixed to it an original preface containing a parallel between painting and poetry.