e
knew not how to discriminate his errors and defects. He was supposed to be
the best artist of his day, and consequently gained a reputation as such,
though his works are far beneath mediocrity.

Francis I. was a great encourager of the fine arts, and the artists
themselves were liberally paid for their productions, until that king was
unfortunately taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia, in the year 1525.
After the death of Francis, the kingdom was distracted with civil wars, so
that painting was entirely neglected by his immediate successors. In the
year 1610, however, Louis XIII. recovered the arts from their languid
state. In his reign, Jaques Blanchard was the most flourishing painter;
although Francis Perier, Simon Voueet, C.A. Du Fresnoy, and Peter Mignard,
were equally gifted.

Of Charles Alphonse Du Fresnoy, author of a Latin poem, entitled _De Arte
Graphica_, I shall attempt a little account. This painter was born at Paris
in the year 1611. His father, intending him for the profession of physic,
sent him to the university of Paris, where he made great progress in his
studies, and obtained several prizes in poetry. He had a great inclination
for painting as well as for poetry, and, though much against his father's
desire, resolved to leave off the study of physic, and commence that of
drawing. The force of his inclination subduing every measure adopted to
suppress it, he took every opportunity of cultivating his favourite study.
Leaving college, he placed himself under Francis Perier, from whom he
learned the art of designing. He afterwards thought fit to travel into
Italy, where he arrived in 1633. Being abandoned by his parents, who were
highly incensed at his having rejected the study of physic, he was reduced
to the utmost distress on his arrival at Rome, and was compelled to paint
trifling pieces for his daily subsistence. After two years of extreme toil
and difficulty, he was relieved by the arrival of Mignard, the artist, who
had formerly been the companion of his studies. Mignard evinced the warmest
regard for his friend, and they were afterwards known in Rome by the name
of the _inseparables_, for they lived in the same house, worked together,
and united the produce of their labours. They were employed to copy all the
best pictures in the Farnese Palace, and every evening attended an academy
of drawing. Mignard was superior in practice, while Fresnoy was perfect
master of the rules, history, and theory