Offered by Galerie Thierry Matranga
REQUEST INFORMATION
Oil on canvas. French school, late 17th century.
Our composition is directly related to the two portraits attributed to Pierre Mignard, one at the Château de Versailles and the other at the Château de Chantilly (see photos). Portraying the king in profile may seem atypical, but it echoes ancient medals, which invariably depicted emperors in profile. Thus, Louis XIV, like Marcus Aurelius who defeated the Germans or Alexander the Great who defeated the Persian hordes, poses standing in the shelter of the walls of a palace or an ancient ruin, against a rolling landscape that unfolds behind him. Dressed in a blue shirt evoking the Holy Spirit, he is covered by a Roman-style breastplate and a purple toga tied over his shoulder. With a haughty head carriage and gaze turned towards the distant horizon, the King of the French leans on his baton of command to assert his authority.
Having understood early on the importance of cultural prestige and the excellent propaganda channel provided by art, the Sun King liked to be portrayed sometimes as Apollo, god of the sun, sometimes as a warlord in the guise of a military commander straight out of Antiquity. Thus, in the paintings and sculptures that adorn the royal residences, we discover the king incarnated as a mythological god or as a Roman general, such as the legendary Julius Caesar.
Our large portrait is set in a powerful carved and gilded wooden frame topped by a royal crown with a royal-blue cushion.
Dimensions: 130 x 98 cm - 149 (163 with crown) x 117 cm with frame
Biography :
Pierre Mignard (Troyes 1612 - Paris 1695) was the brother of Nicolas (known as Nicolas Mignard d'Avignon), also a painter. Like Valentin de Boulogne, Michel Dorigny, Charles Le Brun and Eustache Le Sueur, Pierre Mignard was a pupil of Simon Vouet. He was nicknamed “the Roman” because he spent a long time in Rome, where he divided his career between large-scale historical compositions and the art of portraiture, in which he excelled. In 1657, Louis XIV recalled him to decorate the cupola of the Val-de-Grâce and the small gallery at Versailles. After the death of Charles Le Brun, he was appointed first painter to the King and director of the Académie de peinture. Pierre Mignard is considered one of the finest colorists of his time and is distinguished by the naturalness and truth of expression of his figures; his brushwork is mellow and full of grace.
Bibliography :
- AUBERT, Jean, Visages du Grand Siècle?: le portrait français sous le règne de Louis XIV, 1660-1715, (cat. exp., Nantes, Musée des beaux-arts, June 20 - September 15, 1997?; Toulouse, Musée des Augustins, October 8, 1997 - January 5, 1998), Somogy, 1997
- KIRCHNER, Thomas, Heurs et malheurs du portrait dans la France du XVIIe siècle, Paris, Fondation maison des sciences de l'homme Centre allemand d'histoire de l'art, 2022
- BOYER Jean-Claude, Pierre Mignard le Romain, Documentation Française Editions 1997
- MILOVANOVIC, Nicolas, Catalogue des peintures françaises du XVIIe siècle du musée du Louvre, Gallimard Louvre éditions, 2021
- MEROT, Alain, La Peinture française au XVIIe siècle, Gallimard Electa, 1994
- HILAIRE, Michel, RAMADE, Patrick, Grand Siècle, Seuil RMN, 1993
- MAC ALLISTER JOHNSON, William, Les Peintres du roi 1648 - 1793, exhibition catalog, RMN, 2000
- BAJOU Thierry, La peinture à Versailles XVIIe siècle, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1998
