177 - LOUIS MICHEL VAN LOO (1707-1771), workshop of

LOUIS MICHEL VAN LOO (1707-1771), workshop of Portrait of Louis XV in armor Oil on oval canvas. H_79 cm W_63 cm Restoration. In a carved and gilded wooden frame. Related work: Artcurial sale February 15, 2022, lot n°1. Our painting should be added to the various studio replicas of the model established by Louis Michel van Loo, following a posing session obtained from the King for the Salon 1761 painting. It was from this model that van Loo and his workshop developed several versions of the royal portrait. As was often the case, these portraits, reduced to ovals, were commissioned by people close to the court, as shown by the example of the Duchesse de Grammont, sister of the Duc de Choiseul, painted in 1763 and featured in the exhibition "Cent portraitspour un siècle. De la cour à la ville sous les règnes de Louis XV et Louis XVI" at the Lambinet Museum. Louis Michel van Loo was the nephew of Carle van Loo (1705-1765) and part of an important family of painters. After studying with his father Jean-Baptiste van Loo (1784-1745), in 1725 he joined his uncle Carle van Loo (1705-1765), two years his senior, in the Eternal City, where the latter had just been awarded his Prix de Rome. A distinguished painter, he became official painter to the Spanish court under Philip V until 1752. He returned to France the following year and painted several portraits of Louis XV. He is one of France's most important classical painters.