Charles Le Brun - Femme A Genoux

Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) - Femme A Genoux or Nude Woman Kneeling (c. 1650)
First Day Cover - France Stamp issued 1973
Drawing held at the Louvre Museum Paris

This drawing was meant to be part of a larger work, where a young girl sinner was being struck down by a bolt of lightning by Jesus Christ.  

Charles Le Brun was one of the dominant forces of French Art in the 17th century.  He worked with royalty in parts of Europe and took joint control of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris in the mid 1600s.  Industrial arts grew immensely at this time, and Le Brun was one of the leading influences on the Loius XIV style of furnishing that was developed during this time.

Towards the latter years of his life, he was an academic and he completed a series of famous paintings depicting Alexander the Great.