The Sacrifice of Manoah

Dated 1626 and held in the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse, this canvas depicting the sacrifice of Manoah is among Le Sueur's earliest documented works — painted when he was approximately eleven or twelve years old, if the dating is correct, though it may have been executed later in his youth. Manoah was the father of Samson; the Book of Judges records that an angel appeared to Manoah and his wife to announce Samson's birth and to receive their offering of a sacrificial kid, ascending to heaven in the flame of the altar. The subject allowed Le Sueur to paint the standard Baroque elements of divine apparition, fire and smoke, and human astonishment within the framework of an Old Testament narrative that was popular in Counter-Reformation iconography because of its typological connection to Christ's Annunciation and ascension. The Augustins' collection represents the strong Toulouse tradition of collecting French religious painting.

On canvas, this early work shows Le Sueur working within the conventions of French Baroque religious painting as he had absorbed them from his training. The sacrificial flame and ascending angel would create the vertical compositional movement typical of apparition scenes. His handling at this period is more dynamic than his mature work, with stronger tonal contrasts and more theatrical figure poses not yet tempered by the classicising restraint of his later career.