_Eustache Le Sueur_ (French: 1616-1655)
Le Sueur, sometimes styled "the French Raphael," was the son of
a wood-carver at Paris, and became one of the original members
of the French Academy. His works, in spite of the early age
at which he died, are very numerous. He was assisted in the
production of them by three brothers and his brothers-in-law.
Several of his most important pictures are to be seen at the
Louvre.
This little picture is a good example of the painter's
characteristics--with its somewhat crude colour, but considerable
gracefulness, especially in the figure of the Virgin.