Robert Nanteuil
French, 1623-1678
Louis XIV
INV-1087
Robert Nanteuil
French, 1623-16781663
Louis XIV
Robert Nanteuil French, 1623-1678 →etchingprint
Date
1663
Medium
Engraving on paper
Dimensions
Plate: 40.5 × 33.4 cm (16 × 13 3/16 in.); Sheet: 51.5 × 40.1 cm (20 5/16 × 15 13/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Mr. J. J. Glessner and the Avery Fund
This portrait was one of several prints of Louis XIV that Nanteuil engraved based on a pastel that he composed from life. Nanteuil frequently brought friends to entertain his models as they sat, giving his portraits a relaxed, natural look, but Louis XIV was a reputedly difficult subject who detested sitting for extended periods. Nonetheless, Nanteuil would engrave 12 portraits of the king, and draw him in person on more than one occasion. As his career progressed, Nanteuil’s prints grew more painterly in quality, with subtler chiaroscuro effects, evident here in the carefully hatched shadows behind Louis XIV.
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