ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes Charles Le Brun theories as a way of calling attention to a philosophical dimension of the problem the visual arts face in the representation of human beings and human action. Later writers criticized the theories and practice of Le Brun for their sterility. The understanding and description of human action, what a person is doing, requires a conceptually connected web of circumstances, character, emotions, intentions, motives and the like, none of which can be understood in isolation from the others. Among Le Brun's own theoretical precepts is his recommendation that the painter take his models either from the antique or from Raphael. By borrowing the proportions of the antique nature can be improved upon and Le Brun apparently thought that it stood in need of improvement. There are two assumptions underlying Le Brun's theories of expression and physiognomy.
