Louis XIV

Louis XIV, the Sun King, stands swathed in a cascade of ermine and blue velvet sewn with golden fleur-de-lis, his crown and scepter at hand, one leg turned out to display the dancer's calf he was proud of even at sixty-three. Hyacinthe Rigaud renders every shimmer of silk and fur with dazzling pomp, the aging monarch transformed into the very image of absolute, theatrical majesty. Now in the Louvre, it became the definitive portrait of royal power, copied endlessly - the look of divine-right kingship distilled into one overwhelming display of fabric and authority.