Portrait Of King Louis XVI - Workshop Of Antoine-françois Callet (1741-1823)

French School of the 18th century circa 1786 *Oil on its canvas and its original frame Presented in its original frame in molded and gilded wood Dimensions with the frame: 92 x 78 cm. The canvas alone: 75 x 64 cm Portrait of King Louis XVI; he was the grandson of Louis XV. He became dauphin in 1765 and ascended the throne in 1774 at the age of 20. In 1770, the dauphin Louis, future Louis XVI, married Marie-Antoinette of Lorraine, archduchess of Austria. From this union, four children were born. Only the eldest, Madame Royale, born in 1778, and the second dauphin, born in 1785, were still alive at the time of the French Revolution. The painting we present to you is derived from the prototype executed in 1786 by Antoine-François Callet (1741-1823) (Château de Versailles) of which we know a certain number of copies, these portraits were intended to decorate official buildings, embassies and galleries of illustrious people in beautiful provincial residences, they could also be offered as diplomatic gifts. Antoine François Callet was born in Paris on March 22, 1741 rue de la Pelleterie in the current 4th arrondissement, son of Jeanne-Marie Léonard and Michel Callet "Master fourbisseur", profession also practiced by his uncles and godfather. We know nothing about his initial training, the first mentions concerning him date back to 1764 and tell us, on the one hand, that aged twenty-three, he was "a student of the Academy of Painting, protégé of Monsieur Boizot", judged "capable of being admitted to compete in the Grand Prix" And, indeed, on August 31, 1764, Callet received the First Prize for his Cleobis and Biton leading their mother to the temple of Juno, in front of Jean Simon Berthélémy. On the other hand, Le Mercure de France of September 6, 1764 informs us that Antoine François Callet is the author of trompe-l'oeil bas-reliefs painted on the false facade of the Sainte-Geneviève church executed on the orders of the architect Soufflot, by the painter Pierre-Antoine Demachy on the occasion of the laying of the first stone of this church. The artist arrived in Rome on November 19, 1767 for a five-year stay at the Académie de France. Charles Natoire, director of the institution, repeatedly cites, in his correspondence with the Marquis de Marigny, "Sr. Calais." Antoine François Callet was therefore no longer entirely unknown or a novice painter on his return from Italy and his reputation had undoubtedly preceded him when he was entrusted, in 1774, by Claude Billard de Bellisard, with the decoration of the dome of a particularly spectacular salon, that of the Petits Appartements of the Palais Bourbon. Between 1774 and 1789 Calais was at its peak and received numerous commissions. From 1777 to 1780, he had a small private mansion built for him by the architect Bernard Poyet, now gone, at 23 rue du Montparnasse. At this time, he worked on the decoration of the Hôtel Thellusson, rue de Provence. After the Revolution, At the turn of the century, the painter reached his sixties, the allegorical style that he adopted for the works that he proposed repeatedly to the State under the Directory, the Consulate and then the Empire was hardly convincing. Devoid of the epic breath that can make allegory lively and evocative, Callet then delivers to us a series of somewhat emphatic images, sometimes difficult to read. He was, with Joseph-Siffrein Duplessis, one of the official portraitists of King Louis XVI and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of his time. Antoine-François Callet died in Paris on October 2, 1823. *Very good state of preservation. Sold with a certificate Related works: -Portrait of Louis XVI (oil on canvas) - museum of the former Royal and Military College of Thiron-Gardais (Eure-et-Loir, France) -Portrait of Louis XVI (1786), (oil on canvas) Paris, Carnavalet museum.