Ancient 1700 Portrait Of Louis XIV, The Sun King

ANCIENT 1700 PORTRAIT OF LOUIS XIV, THE SUN KING Hyacinthe Rigaud's studio.
OIL PAINTING ON CANVAS Dimensions 155 x 120cm Provenance :
Collection of the Château de Huppy (France)

PRESENTATION OF THE WORK
Portrait against a presumably battlefield background, the French monarch Louis XIV poses in a three-quarter figure, proud and full of himself, flaunting a shiny burnished armour. In the eighteenth century military clothes became real parade uniforms, which have nothing to envy to the very elegant court costumes. In fact, highly sought-after colored details decorate the armour: the two winged bibs and the white gloves have slits at the wrists and a lace jabot is knotted around the neck. The shiny armor studded with decorated lily flowers and the shiny helmet give her a military attitude. The rhetoric of royal power shines through strongly in the portrait: the blue ribbon that surrounds the chest is a tribute to the Order of Saint-Esprit to which the sovereign belongs, the golden lilies engraved on the elbows are the heraldic symbol of the Bourbons, and the right hand holds a command stick and rests on a decommissioned helmet. The enormous wig to the sovereign ("the most baroque expression of the baroque"). On the back, a black bow softly ties the curls that go down the back. To give such prominence to the wig, the hairdressers of Versailles require the cheeks and face to be completely shaved. The refined pictorial quality in the search for details place this painting in the workshop of the famous court portraitist Hyacinthe Rigaud. Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715 His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in history. Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the age of absolutism in Europe. The king surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military and cultural figures, such as Mazarin , Colbert , Louvois , the Grand Condé , Turenne , Vauban , Boulle , Molière , Racine , Boileau , La Fontaine , Lully , Charpentier , Marais , Le Brun , Rigaud , Bossuet , Le Vau , Mansart , Charles Perrault , Claude Perrault and Le Nôtre . During Louis' long reign, France emerged as the leading European power and regularly asserted its military strength. A conflict with Spain marked his entire childhood, while during his reign the kingdom took part in three major continental conflicts, each against powerful foreign alliances: the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg and the War of the Spaniards Succession. Additionally, France also contested shorter wars, such as the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions. The war defined Louis' foreign policy and his personality shaped his approach. Driven by "a mix of commerce, revenge and resentment", he felt that war was the ideal way to enhance his glory. In peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats that their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French army. Upon his death in 1715, Louis XIV left his great-nephew and successor, Louis XV, a powerful kingdom, albeit one in deep debt after the 13-year War of the Spanish Succession. Hyacinthe Rigaud (July 18, 1659, Perpignan, France – December 29, 1743, Paris, France)
He was one of the most important portrait painters during the reign of King Louis XIV. His instinct for striking poses and grandiose presentations was perfectly suited to the tastes of the royal personages, ambassadors, clerics, courtiers and financiers who sat for him. Rigaud owes his celebrity to the faithful support he received from the four generations of Bourbons whose portraits he painted; namely King Louis XIV, then his son Louis, Grand Dauphin, then the King's nephew (son of the Grand Dauphin) Louis, Duke of Burgundy (also called the Petit Dauphin), and finally the grandson of the Grand Dauphin (son of the Petit Dauphin), who became the next king: Louis XV, who succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV in 1715. he Gathered the nucleus of his clientele among the wealthiest circles as well as among the bourgeois, financiers, nobles, industrialists and government ministers, also courting all the major ambassadors of his time and various European monarchs. His oeuvre reads like an almost complete portrait gallery of the leading promoters in France from 1680 to 1740.
THE WORK WILL BE SHIPPED IN A WOODEN CASE AND WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY A CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY