(Lyon 1657–1734 Bonn)
Portrait of Max Emanuel, Prince-Elector of Bavaria (1672–1726),
pastel on paper, laid down on canvas, 86 x 64 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Germany, since the 1920s

Joseph Vivien, one of the most important portrait painters of his time, executed many portraits of Max Emanuel of Bavaria and his brother Joseph Clemens, Prince-Elector of Cologne.

Maximilian II Emanuel (Ludwig Maria Joseph Kajetan Anton Nikolaus Franz Ignaz Felix, also known as Max Emanuel, born on 11 July 1662 in Munich and died at the same place on 26 February 1726) was a Wittelsbach ruler and son of Prince-Elector Ferdinand Maria and his wife, Henriette Adelaide of Savoy. In 1679 he followed his father as Prince-Elector of Bavaria. During the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) he made a name for himself as military commander in the emperor’s service. Because of his blue tunic that could be seen from far away in the battlefields, the Ottomans referred to him as the ‘Blue King’. During the War of the Grand Alliance he was appointed Governor General of the Spanish Netherlands, a post he held until 1706. His hopes to benefit at least partly from the Spanish inheritance led to his entering into an alliance with Louis XIV at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession. In the first years of this war he proceeded quite offensively as the latter’s ally, but without notable success. Following the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, he was forced to leave Bavaria. In 1706 an imperial ban was imposed on him, and he lived in exile in Brussels for several years. After the end of the war he was able to resume his rule of Bavaria. He sought to reach a compromise with the House of Habsburg and strengthen the position of the House of Wittelsbach within the empire.

Culturally, the reign of Max Emanuel, who commissioned the construction of numerous palaces and was an important collector, marked the transition from Italian High Baroque to the style of the Régence, which was informed by French art and from which local artists gradually developed the Bavarian Rococo. The Frenchman Joseph Vivien, holding the title of premier peintre, was available to the prince-elector and his family as a highly gifted portraitist. A contemporary referred to him as ‘le Van Dyck du siècle pour le pastel’.