Night

Virtual czar of French arts in the second half of the seventeenth century, Le Brun made only a few etchings at the very beginning of his career. The most celebrated are The Four Times of the Day, which narrate a typical day in the life of a satyr, his bacchante wife and their baby son. Dawn finds the child still asleep, but about to be awakened by the crowing cock and braying donkey. Noon is lunch time, with the satyr holding a bowl for the child, while its mother squeezes grapes into it. As the evening sun sets, the satyr plays tenderly with his son. At night the family sleeps around a warming fire, the father nestling the child in a protective embrace.