Sébastien Leclerc is considered one of the best French artists of the seventeenth century, admired particularly for his skill in composition. Born in Metz, France, he moved to Paris in 1654. Leclerc joined the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1672 and taught perspective there. He was appointed Royal Engraver by Louis XIV. He also worked as a technical draftsman and military engineer.
He married Sonechka early, out of love. He loved her passionately only for the first two years. Then he lost interest but didn’t even notice it. He wasn’t thinking about love and women as a rule. He…
The Traveler was painted soon after the Russian Revolution, around the time that Marc Chagall was appointed commissar of the arts for Vitebsk, the site of Yehudah Pen’s academy, where Chagall had…