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| Title: |
Louis XIV |
| Craftsman: |
Hyacinthe Rigaud |
| Date: |
1701 |
| Material: |
Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions: |
H. 205 cm; W. 152 cm. |
| Location: |
Apollo Salon, Grand Apartment |
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Aged 62, Louis XIV is here wearing royal garb (ermine-lined blue cape with fleur-de-lis pattern, sword at his side) and shown with royal regalia (sceptre, crown, hand of justice).
The portrait was commissioned in 1700 from Hyacinthe Rigaud, who excelled in this kind of state portraiture. The king intended to give the painting to his grandson, the duc d'Anjou, who had just been proclaimed king of Spain. Yet when Louis XIV saw the portrait, he found it so fine that the he immediately asked the artist to do another one for himself. As it turned out, neither painting ever left France. The first remained in the Apollo Salon until the Revolution and is now in the Louvre, while the second is now at Versailles.
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