Important Ceremonial Portrait Of King Louis XV In Armor, Workshop Of J.b. Van Loo, Circa 1730

Ceremonial portrait of a young king Louis XV in armor
Workshop of Jean Baptiste Van Loo (1684-1745)
18th century French School, around 1730

Oil on canvas, dimensions: h. 128, w. 95 cm
A Louis XV style richly carved giltwood frame, 19th century
Framed: h.161 cm, w. 128 cm

Rare portrait of the young King Louis XV in armor, a workshop version derived from the official portrait by Jean Baptiste Van Loo.

We are here in the presence of a king-commander of armies. In a solemn attitude the monarch is represented standing, seen from three quarters, up to the knees, left hand placed on his hip, right hand resting on his fleur-de-lis command staff. His belligerent face stands out against a background of marked contrasts. The blue sky with residue of cannon smoke sharing the space with a large curtain of red velvet which seems to envelop the sovereign. Entirely covered in gleaming steel armor with gold ornaments, consisting of breastplate, shoulder pads, arm armor and greaves protecting the thighs. Her waist-hugging white scarf blows in the wind in a complex construction of folds. The king wears as a saltire the blue cord of the order of the Holy Spirit, the changing color of which echoes the moving fabrics. His helmet topped with feathers is placed on a mound covered with velvet cloth. Our portrait represents Louis XV as a teenager and is rather a variation of the first official full-length portraits. The exterior setting, against a sky background suggesting a battlefield, absence of crown and scepter, but the presence in the foreground of the staff of command transmit the warrior image and military power of the adolescent king.

Our work is a workshop variation by Jean Baptiste Van Loo, executed around 1730, inspired by the equestrian portrait of Louis XV of 1723.
It was at the end of 1723 that Jean Baptiste Van Loo intervened at the request of Charles Parrocel in the execution of the face of Louis XV, which the latter represented on horseback. Thanks to the success of this equestrian portrait (inv. MV3749), the portrait painter Jean Baptiste Van Loo was entrusted by the Regent with two large full-length portraits of the young king in ceremonial costume and armor (Château de Versailles, inv. MV6942) and (Louvre Museum, TR77-GMTB430). At the same time, from 1723, the workshop of Jean Baptiste Van Loo provided the first replicas, which inspired the copyists in the cabinet of the Superintendence of Versailles. Faced with the need to quickly disseminate the new effigy of the king, the Buildings Administration retained the full-length type of Louis XV, dressed in armor and military clothing, which it distributed throughout Europe. Of this portrait it will be said that it “adorns many cabinets in Europe and shows in a thousand places the object of French tenderness”. Around 1729 Van Loo executed new variations of the portrait taking into account the age of the king and his maturity and the birth of the Dauphin positioning him as a father of the family.