Portrait Of The Grand Dauphin, Oil On Canvas 18th Century

Portrait of the Crand Dauphin, oil on canvas from the 18th century.
Good general condition, although there are old restorations which have yellowed over time.
Old relining, modern frame.
Dimensions with frame 49x40 cm.
This portrait having been wrongly identified as that of the regent is put back on sale under his real identity.

Marie-Thérèse of Austria, wife of Louis XIV, gave birth to Louis de France, known as “Monseigneur”, in 1661, at the Château de Fontainebleau. Dauphin during his life, he received the title of Grand Dauphin at his death, to distinguish him from his son the Duke of Burgundy. Grandson of Louis XIV, the Duke of Burgundy (1682-1712) never reigned but from his union with Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Louis XV was born… then “dauphin”. Endowed with a solid culture, passionate about the arts, the King's son is installed in a sumptuous apartment in Versailles, witness to his collector's soul. A great opera fan, he regularly goes to the Palais-Royal to see a new show. Unlike his wife, Marie-Anne-Christine-Victoire de Bavière whom he married in 1680, he did not live a recluse at the Château and indulged in the pleasures of the splendor of Versailles and Paris. Faithful to tradition, the Bottlenose Dolphin hunts regularly. In addition to these daily pleasures, he holds important political and military positions. In the 1680s, the King invited him to get involved in the political affairs of the kingdom. At the same time, he carried out his first military campaigns from which he emerged victorious and admired by his troops. Widowed in 1690, like his father, he secretly married his mistress Mademoiselle de Chouin around 1694. The Grand Dauphin divides his time between the Palace of Versailles and his property in Meudon, which competes with the palace of Louis XIV in its sumptuous decor. This fervent collector brought together tapestries from the Gobelins. Already active under Henri IV (1553-1610), Louis , painter to King Louis XIII between 1640 and 1642, major representative of French classicism, he mainly made his career in Rome., as well as rare furniture. Four years before the death of his father, Monseigneur died of smallpox in his castle of Meudon, in April 1711. His eldest son, the Duke of Burgundy, followed him to the grave the following year, leaving two sons. Heir to the crown after the death of his brother in 1712, the Duke of Anjou, then aged two, became the new dauphin before succeeding his great-grandfather in 1715, under the name of Louis XV, a nickname given to smallpox