Right above this text you should see a copy of a drawing by Charles Le Brun. The original was done in Sanguine with some white added. Sanguine is a chalk with a reddish-brown color that resembles dried blood. If you want to buy some for drawing you can find it at better art supplies stores everywhere. Just ask for Sanguine chalk for drawing. I have found that this is more effective than asking for something that looks like dried blood. Sanguine or Sanguigna in Italian or Sanguis in Latin has been around for centuries. There was also some white added to Le Brun’s drawing. It didn’t say what kind of white so you are on your own. I drew my copy using Black and white Prismacolor pencils on gray toned paper. The subject of the drawing is Prometheus Bound. Which is a Greek play written by Aeschylus sometime between 479 bc and 424 bc. This tragedy is about the Titan Prometheus who disobeys Zeus by giving fire to mankind. Apparently, Zeus did not believe man deserved fire but Prometheus thought man would need fire to stay warm, cook food and ultimately over cook that same food. Zeus punished Prometheus by tying him up with chains and then let an eagle eat his liver. The liver would grow back every night and then the eagle would then eat the liver again. So there are two things we can learn from this story. First of all, only eagles are willing to eat liver and secondly you should never do anything that benefits mankind.
Let’s talk about Charles Le Brun. According to Wikipedia, he was baptized in Paris, France on February 24, 1619 and died on February 12, 1690. He was a painter, an art theorist, an art school director and a physiognomist. You probably are unsure what a painter does. He paints. You are probably even more confused about what a physiognomist is. Apparently, and this is according to Wikipedia, it is someone who judges a persons character by their appearance. I’m going to leave it there.