Portrait of Louis the XIVth as a child attributed to Jean Nocret, circa 165

Rare full-length portrait of the future king of France. The young monarch is seated in front of a table where rest the crown and the scepter of Saint Louis, symbols of the French royalty. He is wearing a felt hat with ostrich feathers, and is richly dressed in precious fabrics embroidered with gold, including a rhingrave and a pourpoint with slashed sleeves revealing his silk shirt. He wears the "little goose", a small apron with ribbon bows at fly height. The whole of the clothing is, just like his boots, decorated with these small bows in wings of mill, called canons. The ruffle, the sleeves and the back of the boots are in fine openwork lace.
The furniture, consisting of a skirted chair and an embossed leather table, is in the Florentine Renaissance style.
Oil on canvas, (old lining), original frame, gilded wood frame of the Louis XV period.
Good condition (small scattered retouching).
French work attributed to Jean Nocret*, and his workshop around 1650.

Dimensions :

Width : 111 cm ; height : 137 cm.
Border : 7.5cm.
Canvas : 96cm by 122 cm. 

Our opinion :

The work we present is particularly rare because it is not the umpteenth studio version representing the future Louis the XIVth, but a work that is unique to our knowledge. Very few portraits of the young monarch were made during the slingshot period in Paris in the 1650's. However, this period marks the end of the austerity of the reign of Louis the XIIIth, the sumptuary edicts of 1633, the Thirty Years' War in 1648, and ushers in a period of stability and wealth. As indicated by the crown and the scepter that are "waiting" before him, the young prince is not yet crowned, which allows us to date our work before 1654. However, we can already feel in his posture and his gaze the determination of the man who will become the Sun King.
The 1650s were important years in the education of the future king who began his education as a young man under the aegis of his godfather, the Cardinal de Mazarin. The latter, a great aesthete, taught him politics, but also passed on his taste for the arts, dance, theater and music, which would mark his entire reign.
Our work reflects this unprecedented luxury, with furniture and fabrics with hints of the Italian Renaissance. The scene, which is still intimate, is also a propaganda intended to show to the rebels all the vigor of the young monarch who has just overcome the terrible plague of smallpox. It is very likely that it was painted directly in the apartments of the young prince, in the Louvre Palace, by Jean Nocret who, in addition to being appointed painter to the king, was also his valet.

*Jean Nocret

Painter of history, portraits and aquafortist, he was born in Nancy in 1615 and died in Paris in 1672.
A student of Jean Le Clerc, a master from Lorraine, Nocret made a trip to Rome. There he met Nicolas Poussin and made copies for Monsieur de Chantelou. Returning to Paris in 1644, he was appointed in December 1649 painter to the king, valet de chambre to the king, and painter to the Duke of Orleans, and quickly became known as a great portraitist. In 1660 he was commissioned to decorate the interiors of the Château de Saint-Cloud. Nocret joined the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1663, with the presentation of the « Repentance of Saint Peter ». In 1666, Nocret decorated the queen's apartments in the Tuileries Palace, under the direction of Charles Le Brun.
In addition to the collective portrait of the royal family presented at Versailles, we have several paintings by him, including « Portrait of Philippe d'Anjou » (Madrid, Prado Museum), « Portrait of the Duchess of La Vallière », « Portrait of Queen Marie-Thérèse », and « Portrait of Anne of Austria » (Versailles, National Museum of the Châteaux of Versailles and Trianon). Some works are only attributed to him or his workshop, such as « La Renommée présentant à la France », the portrait of Louis the XIVth (Saint-Quentin, Musée Antoine Lécuyer), « Portrait of Anna of Austria » (Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts), « Portrait of Louis the XIVth » (Château de Maisons-Laffitte), « Portrait of Louis the XIVth as a roman general » (vers 1670, Sceaux, Musée de l'Île-de-France).