FREITAG, 20. MÄRZ 2026 
This Week in La Gazette Drouot :Antoine Coypel’s Preparatory Drawings for the Grand Trianon: Apollo and the Sun King
T wo works on paper by Noël Coypel's son illustrate the aura of Louis XIV through mythology.
By Sophie Reyssat
Read the full version of "Antoine Coypel’s Preparatory Drawings for the Grand Trianon: Apollo and the Sun King" in La Gazette Drouot
Featuring Apollo and Daphne, this drawing by Antoine Coypel will be presented alongside Apollo, in the Midst of the Muses, Commanding Them to Celebrate the Glory of Louis le Grand (33.5 x 47.5 cm/13.18 x 18.70 in, €60,000/80,000). Given to the owners' ancestors around 1860, these drawings are thought to have come from the collection of the Count of Chambord (1820-1883), like the Allegory to the Glory of Louis XIV, sold at Aguttes in 2020.
These two subjects from the myths of Apollo were preparatory works for the decorative program for the Grand Trianon - whose construction was completed in 1687. Invoking characters from mythology, they were commissioned from renowned painters for Louis XIV 's first apartment , occupied by the sovereign from 1688 to 1691.
As at Versailles, the aim was to celebrate his glory through the representation of Apollo, the solar god with whom the monarch identified when he embodied him for the first time in a ballet performed in 1653. Nec pluribus affirms the royal motto : "like no other", Louis XIV governs as the Sun spreads its rays.
These two subjects from the myths of Apollo were preparatory works for the decorative program for the Grand Trianon - whose construction was completed in 1687. Invoking characters from mythology, they were commissioned from renowned painters for Louis XIV 's first apartment , occupied by the sovereign from 1688 to 1691.
As at Versailles, the aim was to celebrate his glory through the representation of Apollo, the solar god with whom the monarch identified when he embodied him for the first time in a ballet performed in 1653. Nec pluribus affirms the royal motto : "like no other", Louis XIV governs as the Sun spreads its rays.
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