THE PROPERTY OF PAUL AND MAGGIE CHEVALIER Hyacinthe Rigaud* (1659-1743) and Studio

Portrait of King Philip V of Spain, three-quarter length, wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of Saint Esprit

Details

THE PROPERTY OF PAUL AND MAGGIE CHEVALIER

Hyacinthe Rigaud* (1659-1743) and Studio
Portrait of King Philip V of Spain, three-quarter length, wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of Saint Esprit
inscribed 'C.R. 128'
oil on canvas
41 x 38in. (104.1 x 97.2cm.)

Provenance

Duchesse du Berry, Inv. no. 107 (her stamp, in red, on a portion of an old relining canvas attached to the stretcher).
Anon. Sale, Christie's, Monaco, 15 June 1986, lot 1, as Studio of Hyacinthe Rigaud.

Sale room notice

Please note the following additional Provenance:
The inventory mark on the present painting is that of the Casa Reale Colorno, the summer palace of the Dukes of Parma. The marks must have been applied after the fall of the Dukes of Parma and the subsequent integration of Parma into the Kingdom of Italy in 1860, when the title of Casa Ducale was replaced by that of Casa Reale.

Lot Essay

Philip, Duke of Anjou, was the grandson of King Louis XIV of France and was proclaimed King of Spain on 24 November 1700. The full-length prototype of the present painting, dated 1701, and the first portrait of the sitter as King of Spain, is in the National Museum at Versailles (on deposit from the Louvre, INV 7499). According to J. Roman (Le Livre de Raison du peintre Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1919, p. 85), it was part of a larger commission for Louis XIV, which included the famous portrait of the French King, now in the Louvre, Paris. An autograph, three-quarter length version also dated 1701 is in the Prado, Madrid.

Rigaud and assistants in his workshop regularly reproduced royal commissions to send out as diplomatic gifts; the present lot was once the property of the Duchesse du Berry.