Louis XVI
1778 - 1779. Oil on canvas.Room 021
Son of Louis Fernande, Dauphin of France, and Maria Josefina of Saxony, Louis XVI was born in 1754 and married Marie Antoinette of Austria in 1770. His father died without acceding to the throne and Louis succeeded his grandfather, Louis XV, in 1774. Arrested just prior to the proclamation of the French Republic, he was guillotined in 1793. Callet here follows Rigaud’s paintings of Louis XIV (Musée du Louvre and Versailles) with the king represented with the symbols of the French monarchy. The canvas, which involves workshop participation, was given by the French king to the Count of Aranda in 1783 during the latter’s time as Spanish ambassador in Paris, according to the inscription on the fine quality, original frame.
