# Portrait of Louis XIV [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [RIGAUD, Hyacinthe]() - Date: 1701-1750 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 277 x 194 cm ## Commentary At the end of Louis XIV's reign the outstanding painter was Hyacinthe Rigaud. Although his activity continued well into the next century, the ethical quality of his figures and the aesthetic quality of his style are part of the spirit of the Louis XIV period. Guided by Le Brun, Rigaud created in painting, as Coysevox had done in sculpture, the portrait of the 'man of quality', whose value he conveyed by the nobility of the attitude, expressiveness of the gesture, and movement of the draperies - in short, by the passion of which he showed his generous temperament to be capable. The aim was less to depict and individual and a character, as Philippe de Champaigne had done in the preceding period, than to affirm the social rank and 'condition' of the sitter, who might be the King, a minister, a financier, or a soldier, but who was always of the Court. Rigaud thus started the Court portrait, which was to have a considerable importance in Europe during the next century. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 3 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/17\_cent/charpentier\_marche.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Marche en Rondeau</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [Anne-Jules, Duke of Noailles]() - [Everhard Jabach]() - [Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet]() - [Louis XIV]() - [Portait of Count Sinzendorf]() - [Portrait of a General Officer]() - [Portrait of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet]() - [Portrait of Louis XIV]() - [Portrait of Louis XIV]() - [Portrait of Phillippe de Courcillon]() - [Portrait of Pierre Drevet]() - [Portrait of the Artist's Mother]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()