Page:Cyclopedia of painters and paintings (IA cyclopediaofpain03cham).pdf/70

 LECTURE CHEZ DIDEROT (Reading at Diderot's House), Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, Baron Edmond de Rothschild, Paris. The encyclopædists Helvetius, d'Holbach, D'Alembert, Grimm, and others are met in Diderot's study to listen to the reading of some work. The reader, at left, clad in gray, is seated at a table around which are placed three of his companions, one in pale yellow, another in blue, the third in rosy gray; a fifth is standing near the bookcase, a sixth leans upon the back of a chair, and a seventh is seated apart at right. Exposition universelle, 1867; purchased by Paul Demidoff.

LECURIEUX, JACQUES JOSEPH, born at Dijon, Aug. 13, 1801. Genre painter, pupil in Dijon of Anatole Devosge, in Paris of Lethière, and of the École des Beaux Arts (1822-26). Medals: 3d class, 1844; 2d class, 1846. Works: Francis I. at the Tomb of Jean sans Peur, St. Louis at Damietta, Death of Louis XI., Brigands disguised as Monks, Girl giving her Hair to the Poor, Resurrection of Jairus' Daughter, Love of Flowers, Little Red-Cap, Solomon de Caus in Bicêtre (1827 to 1852); Christian Soul (1864); Portrait of Duc de Retz, Versailles Museum.—Bellier, i. 961; Larousse; Müller, 325.

Leda, Correggio, Berlin Museum.

LEDA, Correggio, Berlin Museum; canvas. Leda and her companions surprised by swans while frolicking in the water in a wood. Painted in 1530-32, probably by order of the Duke of Mantua, together with the Danaë, for a present to the Emperor Charles V.; afterwards in possession of Antonio Perez, favourite of Philip II., and sold, after his fall, to Emperor Rodolf II.; in Prague catalogue of 1621, and probably carried to Stockholm when the Swedes took Prague in 1648; passed from collection of Queen Christina, through several hands, to Orleans Collection in 1722. Louis the Pious, son of the Regent Duc d'Orléans, instigated by his father confessor, Abbé de Saint Geneviève, cut out the head of the Leda and otherwise mutilated it. The fragments fell into the hands of Charles Coypel, the court-painter, and either he or a painter named Deslyen repaired it and repainted the head. At Coypel's sale it was bought by Pasquier for 16,050 livres, and at his sale (1755) it was bought for Frederick the Great for 21,060 livres. In 1806 the French took it from the Palace of Sansouci to Paris, where Prud'hon painted in a new head; it was returned in 1814, and has been in the Berlin Museum since 1830. Lately restored by Schlesinger,