4 - Claude LEFÈBVRE (1632–1675), from the studio of.

Claude LEFÈBVRE (1632–1675), from the studio of. Bust portrait of Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre (1638–1715). Oil on canvas. Circa 1670. H. 68 x W. 57 cm. Frame: H. 78 x W. 66 cm. Provenance Private French collection. History The success of a portrait celebrating the conquests of Flanders. This portrait depicts Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, in armor, at the age of thirty-one. It is a bust version of the portrait of the king completed in 1669 by Claude Lefèbvre and now housed at the New Orleans Museum of Art (ill. 1). In it, the sovereign appears as a conqueror: he emerges victorious from the War of Devolution—the first war of his reign, concluded in 1668 by the Treaty of Aachen—which secured for him part of Flanders and the strongholds of Lille, Douai, Tournai, and Charleroi—which were soon fortified by Vauban. The portrait thus celebrates the king as a triumphant military leader. The work enjoyed rapid success. As early as September 1669, a contract was signed between the Antwerp engraver Nicolas Pitau (1632–1671) and Louis-Marcel de Coëtlogon (1648?–1707), a theology student at the Collège de Navarre. The contract called for the delivery of 1,500 copies of the portrait of Louis XIV based on Claude Lefèbvre’s painting, intended to illustrate the young man’s thesis (ill. 2). A member of the Breton nobility, Coëtlogon sought to win the king’s favor in order to secure a bishopric: he was appointed bishop of Saint-Brieuc in 1680, then of Tournai in 1705. He therefore chose to dedicate his dissertation to the sovereign and to include in it his portrait, engraved after Lefèbvre’s painting. Véronique Meyer, a professor of art history at the University of Poitiers and a specialist in modern-era prints, considers this plate to be “one of Pitau’s finest and one of the most successful portraits of the king.” ” In 1675, the portrait was also the subject of a bust print captioned “The Invincible Monarch,” engraved by Pieter van Schuppen, who was also from Antwerp (ill. 3). The high quality of the portrait also inspired French painters. In 1672, Jean Garnier (1632–1705) presented a work to the Royal Academy depicting Louis XIV surrounded by the attributes of the arts and sciences (ill. 4). In it, he painted the effigy of the Sun King in an oval medallion, using Lefèbvre’s portrait as the model for the bust. The Palace of Versailles also houses a full-length portrait based on the painter’s model (ill. 5). While the image circulated widely through engravings, painted versions of this subject remain quite rare. A bust portrait comparable to our painting was donated to the Palais de la Bourse in Bordeaux (ill. 6). A three-quarter-length portrait was offered for sale at Christie’s in 2015 (see below). Claude Lefèbvre, portrait painter at the court of Louis XIV. The son of Jean Lefèbvre (1600–c. 1675), painter to the king, Claude Lefèbvre was born in 1632 in Fontainebleau. He trained under Eustache Le Sueur (1616–1655), then in the studio of Charles Le Brun (1619–1690). Admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1663, he became an assistant professor there the following year, just as Le Brun was appointed First Painter to the King. This connection opened the door to a prestigious clientele. The portrait of Colbert, which he painted in 1666, granted him access to the highest echelons of the court. Influenced by the great Flemish portraitists, notably Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), Lefèbvre’s works earned him such success that it took him all the way to the English court. In 1673, at the height of his fame, he exhibited no fewer than ten portraits at the Salon. He died, however, two years later. Among the works listed in the inventory drawn up following the death of his first wife in November 1674 were, in his studio, “the original portraits of the King and the Queen,” confirming that Lefèbvre produced several versions of Louis XIV’s likeness. Considered one of the most skilled portraitists of the 17th century, Claude Lefèbvre is today represented in prestigious public collections, notably at the Louvre, the Carnavalet Museum, and in the collections of the palaces of Versailles and Trianon. Related Works - Claude Lefèbvre (1632–1675), Portrait of Louis XIV, King of France, 1669, New Orleans, New Orleans Museum of Art, Inv. 56.67 (ill. 1). - Nicolas Pitau the Elder (1632–1671), after Claude Lefèbvre (1632–1675), Louis XIV (1638–1715), 1670, Versailles, National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon, Inv. invgravures52 (ill. 2). - Pieter van Schuppen (1627–1702), after Claude Lefèbvre (1632–1675), Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, “The Invincible Monarch,” 1675, Versailles, National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon, Inv. LP30.5.2