Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy

Starting from nineteen or twenty he learned the rudiments of design under Perrier and Vouet. At the age of twenty-one du Fresnoy, friendless and without money, went off to Rome, where he drew ruins and architectural subjects. After two years thus spent he re-encountered his old fellow-student Pierre Mignard, and by his aid obtained some amelioration of his professional prospects. They moved into the same house and became such good friends that people called them the "inseparables". The cardinal of Lyon employed du Fresnoy and Mignard in making copies of works in the Farnese palace. It was also at this time that du Fresnoy, inspired by the works of Lucretius and Horace, began writing the Latin-language poem "De arte graphica" ("The Art of Painting"), about his observations on the art of painting. Du Fresnoy studied Raphael and the antique, went in 1633 to Venice, and in 1656 returned to France. During two years he was now employed in painting altar-pieces in the château du Raincy, landscapes, etc. Du Fresnoy revised "De arte graphica" throughout the 1650s. Though he wanted to see it published, he thought it improper to print the Latin poem without a French translation and thus requested one from Roger de Piles. Du Fresnoy had been writing a commentary on the translation when he suffered a stroke in late 1667. He died three or four months later on 16 January 1668 in Villiers-le-Bel, near Paris. He never married. "De arte graphica" was first published by Mignard and has been translated into several languages. In 1668 Roger de Piles published his French translation; John Dryden translated the work into English prose in 1694; and a rendering into verse by William Mason annotated by Sir Joshua Reynolds followed in 1782.

Training under François Perrier and Simon Vouet is recorded. The recorded working language is Latin and French. Work by Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy is recorded in the collections of Minneapolis Institute of Art, Statens Museum for Kunst, National Museum in Warsaw, Slovak National Gallery and J. Paul Getty Museum.

Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy is recorded as poet, painter and writer.