French Painting of Louis XIV

Question 1

Madame Aubrey and Leonore

Answer 1

Nicolas de Largilliere from 1700 in France

* Presents boys wore dresses because it was easier but the boy is wearing a masculine hat

* Currently in the Minneapolis Institute of Art

* The madame’s real name is Catherine Coustard

Question 2

Duke De Biron

Answer 2

Nicolas de Largilliere 1714 in France

* A military portrait presenting a man wearing armor

* Conveys the idea that a man of arms is a noble

* Biron served as a military leader under Louis XIV and XV

* Currently in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

* Biron’s full name is François Armand de Gontaut

Question 3

Woman at her Dressing Table

Answer 3

Nicolas de Largilliere from 1695-1700 in France

* The identity of the model is unknown

* A woman at her dressing table is known as a toilette scene

* Toilette was actually the name of the fabric people wore when getting ready in the morning

* Currently in the St. Louis Art Museum in Missouri

* The mirror was traditionally seen as vanity but in newer paintings like this one mirrors are symbols of improving one’s appearance

Question 4

Portrait of a Family

Answer 4

Nicolas de Largillière from 1730 in France

• Currently in the Louvre in Paris
• The painting was formerly to be portrait of Nicolas and his family
• The two dead birds in the lower left symbolized the upper class’s hobby for hunting
• Dr. Louis La Caze brought the painting to the Louvre
• The identities of the family is currently unknown

Question 5

Louis XIV and his Heirs

Answer 5

Nicolas de Largillière from 1710-14 in France

• Currently in the Wallace Collection within London
• The two busts in the paintings are his father, Louis XIII, and his grandfather, Henry IV
• To Louis XIV’s right is his son, Louis the Grand Dauphin
• The painting is a celebration of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty
• Presents the first and second generations of the Capetian dynasty