Rubens, although not of France, dominated Europe with his magnificence of style, a style suited to the time, expressing force rather than refinement, yet with a splendid decorative value in the art we are considering. Flanders looked to him for inspiration, and his lead was everywhere followed. His virile work had power to inspire, to transmit enthusiasm to others, and thus he was responsible for much of the improvement in decorative art, the re-establishment of that art upon an intellectual basis. Designs from his hands were full, splendid and self-assertive; harmony and proportion were there. A study of the _Antony and Cleopatra_ series and of the plates given in this volume will establish and verify this. [Illustration: DESIGN BY RUBENS] [Illustration: DESIGN BY RUBENS] Lebrun's century was the same as that of Rubens, but the former had the fine feeling for art of the Latin, who knows that its first province is to please. A comparison between the two men must not be carried too far, for Rubens was essentially a painter, attacking the field of decoration only with the overflow of imagination, while Lebrun's life and talent were wholly directed in the way of beautifying palaces and chateaux. Yet Rubens' work gave a fresh impulse to tapestry weaving in Brussels while Lebrun was inspiring it in France. Lebrun had, then, to direct the talent and the labour of an army of artists and artisans, and to keep them working in harmony. It was no mean task, for one artist alone was not left to compose an entire picture, but each was taken for his specialty. One artist drew the figures, another the animals, another the trees, and another the architecture; but it was the director, Lebrun, who composed and harmonised the whole. Thus, although the number of tapestries actually composed by him is few, it was his great mind that ordered the work of others. He was the leader of the orchestra, the others were the instruments he controlled. It was while at Vaux that Lebrun had more time for his own composition. He there produced a series called _Les Renommes_, masterpieces of pure decorative composition. These were designed as portieres for the Chateau of Maincy. They came to be models for the Gobelins, and were woven to hang at royal doors, the doors of Foucquet being at this time dressed with iron bars. The Gobelins wove seventy-two sets after this beautiful model which had made Lebrun's debut as an artist. Foucquet had given him a more pretentious work; it was to complete a suite, the _History of Constantine_, after Raphael. Rubens had given a fresh flush of popularity to this subject, which again became the mode. The _History of Meleager_ was begun at Vaux and finished at the Gobelins. Later, Vaux forgotten, or at least a thing of the past, Lebrun's decorative genius found expression in the series called _The Months_ or _The Royal Residences_, of which there were twelve hangings.