Portrait of Louis XIV

Portrait of Louis XIV
French: Portrait de Louis XIV en costume de sacre
Artist Hyacinthe Rigaud
Year 1701 (1701)
Medium oil on canvas
Dimensions 277 cm × 194 cm (109 in × 76 in)
Location Musée du Louvre, Paris
Accession INV 7492

Portrait of Louis XIV in Coronation Robes was painted in 1701 by the French painter Hyacinthe Rigaud after commission of the king who wanted to satisfy the desire of his grandson, Philip V. Louis XIV kept it and had it hanging at Versailles. By its brilliance and quality, this portrait has become the "official portrait" of Louis XIV.

Context

On the death of the Spanish King Charles II on 18 November 1700, Spain was beset by dynastic appetites of other European powers, resulting in a succession war. The king's will however ruled out any idea of sharing and pointed at the forefront of legitimate contenders for the crown, Philip, Duke of Anjou, second son of the Grand Dauphin and grand-son of Louis XIV. The young future king of Spain, eager to take with him the image of his grandfather, convinced Louis XIV to order Hyacinthe Rigaud what would become the absolute image of royal power and the reference picture for generations to come:

His reputation [Rigaud] is come to the king, by the portrait he had done of my lord, commander outside the headquarters of Philipsburg, he had the honor in 1700, to be appointed by His Majesty to paint Philippe V, King of Spain, his little son a few days before his departure to take possession of their kingdoms. This work gave rise to the king of Spain's request to the king, his grandfather, giving it as his portrait painted by the same hand; that His Majesty granted him. Rigaud had the honor to start the following year; and being completed, the monarch found the resemblance so perfect and so beautifully decorated, he ordered him to make a copy of the same size, to send to the King of Spain, instead of original. His Most Christian Majesty is painted foot, clad in royal apparel. This table is ten feet and a half high; it is located in Versailles, in the throne room, and the king of Spain in the office of Her Majesty.[1]

Thus spoke Hyacinthe Rigaud, through a friend, in the autobiography he sent to the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III in 1716.[2][3] These statements are accredited by the mention of the corresponding payment in the books of accounts of the artist, in 1701: "The King and the King of Spain, and a copy of Roy's portrait of the same size as the original for its Catholic Majesty, all 12,000 pounds ", the price of three tableaux.[4] The same payment is charged to royal buildings accounts on September 16, 1702: "Two large portraits of Roy Length, with sketching small portraits of such as aussy the length portrait of the king of Spain."[5]

Genesis

It seems that Philippe V had obtained satisfaction through the intercession of Madame de Maintenon, who in a letter to the Duke of Noailles, dated March 11, 1701 avowed: "I work to send me his portrait ordered him to do. Two-dinées after I return from Saint-Cyr to force the King to be painted. The drop came to our rescue. Without it we do not have held three or four hours."[6] The day before the Marquis de Dangeau, has left us in his Journal a first testimony corroborating the statements of the favorite, describing the genesis of Louis XIV painting, designed to be embedded later in the final composition, prepared in the privacy of the painter's studio: "Thursday 10 [March 1701] at Versailles - the drop continues king, he had painted the post-dined by Rigaud to send his portrait the King of Spain in which he promised [...].[7] "The next day, the work actually continued:" Friday 11 at Versailles - Gout King rose slightly and at the end of the sermon, which carried him, he did see Madame de Maintenon where Rigaud worked on his portrait." On September 3, 1703, in a touching letter he wrote to the Marquise, Philip V in turn confessed: "I thank you for the care you took to get me the portrait of the king, I look impatience.[8] "The size and complexity of the composition well justified legitimate expectation of the sponsors and the time spent by the artist to complete his work. Besides, everything tends to prove that Rigaud works in effigy while completing the portrait of Philip V, which will never be sent to Spain.

Besides, Thursday, January 19, 1702, Rigaud is seeking a new session, as evidenced by the Marquis de Dangeau: "The King, who was consulting point to hold, had the morning patience to be completed in paint Madame de Maintenon by Rigaud; it sends this portrait the King of Spain, who had urged in "9. "The King's portrait was exposed in the large apartment Versailles; he is level with the royal coat. This book is Mr. Rigaud. Never portrait was painted better nor more like; the whole court saw it and everyone admired. It takes a work is very fine and perfect to attract general applause in a place where good taste reigns and where it is not lavish praise. His Majesty has promised his portrait the King of Spain, wants to keep his word by giving it the original, Mr. Rigaud must make a copy that is desired by all Cour."[9]

Louis XIV, King of France, study of Hyacinthe Rigaud from which he made Portrait of Louis XIV (1701 Condé museum.

The direction of King's Buildings effectively control the painter's workshop many copies (in various forms to the European courts or the royal province of pharmacies, such as controlled François Stiémart for example) or engravings and the proves a payment order dated September 16, 1702: "in Mr. Rigault, painter to the King for two large portraits of Roy Length, with sketching small portraits of such as aussy the length portrait of Spain Roy he made during this year, 10,000 livres ".[10]

As a faithful recorder works his Catalan colleague, Pierre Drevet was naturally designated to carry out chisels and receives "full payment of five thousand pounds for the engraver [sic] he made the full length portrait of King Louis XIV, according to Mr. Rigaud, during 1714-1715."[11] To do this, Drevet had helped a drawing executed by the young Jean-Marc Nattiern 1 and the direction of the buildings relates the payment, August 20, 1713: "sr Nattier at the young painter, for drawing a portrait of the king after Rigaud, he copied as a model for burn during 1713, [...] 500 pounds."[5] Drevet owes much to the work of Nattier which transposed the Rigaud table in every detail, in forecast engraving dimensions. However, he extended the marble gallery in the background of a span variation followed by the recorder. No doubt Rigaud himself has supervised the work of Nattier, since the drawing was intended for his friend and Prevet Natier's father, Mark, was a faithful collaborator of Rigaud ... Mariette considers the work of Drevet as "what [the artist] has made more considerable" and that she "eté engraved by order of his majesty very Christian and Estre put in his Cabinet."[12] In 1733, he noted the rarity in a letter to Gabburri: "For my part I can get you to acquire a portrait of King and Queen reigning, but he engraved by Drevet is very difficult to have, and I Having sold more than eight pounds. I can have it for a discreet price but you have to give me time."[13]

Description

Signed and dated in the phylactery, on the basis of the column representing the Goddess of Justice Themis holding in his hand the balance, "Painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1701," this broad picture is that of an aging king (63) , reached the height of his fame. Rigaud executed the face on a rectangular canvas sewn then dots on a large canvas.[14] The original, now in the Louvre museum 3, from the collections of the crown,[15] has a replica autograph today presented in the Apollo Room of the Palace of Versailles, also signed and slightly different dimensions.[16][17] One can also find a copy at the Hotel Negresco. The king is shown standing on foot, three-quarters to the left, head against Angle and feet down view, this calculated poses aimed to present the most of his person. The king occupies the central space of the table whose composition is built from vertical lines (column, king, throne) and a pyramid in which the sovereign is inscribed, which also help to create an elevation space. The dramatization of the scene is accentuated by a heavy curtain drape which traditionally means the king na not appear but it appears. A large marble pillar, traditional evocation of power since the Renaissance (stability symbol, world axis that unites the earthly and heavenly powers) hold the composition left. The massive barrel rests on a stylobate whose two visible sides are decorated with reliefs depicting two royal virtues: Allegory of Justice (front) and the strength (left, very difficult to see).[18]

Before a fleur de lys blue upholstered throne (the royal chair) placed high up on a platform and under a purple canopy (the color of power and wealth since antiquity) silk, the king embodies the majesty of choice because he need not bear regalia (5 fermé en crown and hand of justice posed on a stool covered with a blue fleur de lys drapery, scepter of his grandfather Henry IV held upside down as a cane), to the except the sword of Charlemagne whose sole custody is visible.[19] Wearing this sword with the coronation mantle is an obvious incongruity.[20] The monarch leonine wig and court dresses (jabot and cuffs lace, brocade rhingrave Sedan, red-heeled shoes adorned with diamond buckles , silk stockings held up by garters) wearing the collar of the Order of the Holy Spirit and the mantle 6 royaln rejected on the shoulder to highlight the sword dancer and his thin legs as Louis Art historians Marin and Peter Burke (Louis XIV had insisted that his features are "true" with the exception of his legs represented in fourth position).[21][22]

Copies

A copy of this portrait, made by Pierre Legendre, is in the library of the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg, opposite the portrait of Louis XV, also in costume sacre. 23 Another copy or reproduction is present at the Paris Observatory, between portraits of Giovanni Domenico Cassini and Urbain Le Verrier.

References

  1. ↑ Lucien Bély, Dictionnaire Louis XIV, Robert Laffont, 2015, p. 103
  2. ↑ van Hulst, Hendrick (1716). Abrégé de la Vie de Hyacinthe Rigaud.
  3. ↑ Charles-Philippe de Chennevières-Pointel & 1854 p. 118.
  4. ↑ Joseph Roman & 1919 p. 83.
  5. 1 2 Jules Guiffrey & 1881 p. 693.
  6. ↑ Théophile Lavallée, Correspondance générale de madame de Maintenon publiée pour la première fois sur les autographes et les manuscrits authentiques […], Paris, Charpentier, 1866, vol. IV, p. 416. Autographe du cabinet de M. le duc de Cambacérès.
  7. ↑ Journal du marquis de Dangeau, publié en entier pour la première fois par MM. Soulié, Dussieux, de Chennevières, Mantz, de Montaiglon avec les additions inédites du Duc de Saint-Simon, t. VIII, 1701-1702, Paris, 1856, p. 51.
  8. ↑ Lavallée, p. 443-444. Manuscrit des Dames de Saint-Cyr.
  9. ↑ Mercure de France, 1702, p. 302-303.
  10. ↑ Guiffrey, 1896, IV, p. 827
  11. ↑ Guiffrey, 1896, V, p. 876, 16 février 1716.
  12. ↑ Pierre-Jean Mariette, Notes manuscrites sur les peintres et les graveurs, 1740-1770, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, cabinet des Estampes, Ya2 4, VII, f° 11.
  13. ↑ Raccolta di lettere sulla pittura, scultura ed architettura scritte da’piu celebri personaggi dei secoli XV, XVI, XVII, 1822, II, p. 398.
  14. ↑ «Louis XIV en costume du sacre - 1701 », étude de Janine Vittori, Conseillère Pédagogique Départementale Arts visuels Haute-Corse, mars 2010
  15. ↑ Fernand Engerand 1901, p. 463.
  16. ↑ Joseph Roman 1919, p. 83.
  17. ↑ laire Constans, Musée National du château de Versailles : Les peintures, Paris, RMN, 1995, II, p. 757, no 4269.
  18. ↑ Mathieu Da-Vinha, Raphaël Masson, Versailles Pour les Nuls, First Éditions, 2011, p. 187
  19. ↑ Peter Burke, Louis XIV : les stratégies de la gloire, Éditions du Seuil, 1995, p. 190
  20. ↑ Hervé Pinoteau, «Insignes et vêtements royaux», Bulletin du centre de recherche du château de Versailles, no 2, décembre 2005, p. 21
  21. ↑ Myriam Tsikounas, « De la gloire à l'émotion, Louis XIV en costume de sacre par Hyacinthe Rigaud », Sociétés & Représentations, vol. 26, no 2, 2008, p. 57 (DOI 10.3917/sr.026.0057).
  22. ↑ Étude d'un tableau : Louis XIV en costume de sacre [archive].

Sources

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