Claude Lefèbvre

Under Le Brun he probably assisted in the preparation of cartoons (untraced) for the tapestry series History of the King (Château of Versailles) and painted a Nativity (untraced) for Louis XIV, but Le Brun found Lefèbvre's compositions poor and encouraged him to specialize in portraiture.

[1] Lefèbvre soon established himself as a leading portrait artist, and in 1663, at the age of thirty, he was received (reçu) as a member of the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture in anticipation of his portrait of Jean-Baptiste Colbert (Château of Versailles).

[4] Lefebvre visited England, where he appears to have been influenced by the work of Anthony van Dyck.

Few of Lefèbvre's paintings have survived, and many are known only from engravings by artists such as Gérard Edelinck, Nicolas de Poilly and Pieter van Schuppen.

Based on the evidence from engravings, several paintings have been attributed to Lefèbvre, including the portrait of Charles Couperin with the Artist's Daughter (Château of Versailles).