Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy

Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy (; 1611 – 16 January 1668) was a French painter, poet and writer on art.

Du Fresnoy was born in Paris, son of an apothecary. His father wanted him to enter the medical profession, and he excelled in college and was well educated in Latin and Greek. He, however, refused to apply for this vocation as he was more interested in poetry and the fine arts; his parents resented him for his refusal of the medical field. 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. 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.