Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701). Louis XIV [oil on canvas]. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

This work is simply stunning in its presentation of reality. I believe it is formally richer and more detailed than what a photograph would be able to capture; the subject is clearly in focus, and framing and background elements have subtle detail adjustments. Hyper-realism is approached.

As usual, color value and purity contribute a great deal of vitality to this work, but because of its impact on content I would argue texture is the primary. True, it is more of an afterthought once the skeleton and mass of this work is established through color dimensions, but Riguad’s measured and masterful use of texture establishes the luxurious quality of this work in the manner that the patron so obviously wants to express. The color strategy is possibly tetradic, with a dense blue and sea-green on the cool end set up against a fiery orange and diluted gold on the warm.

Rigaud ties together an amazing illusion of depth through the blended employment of a handful of measures. Foremost is unique modelling by combining variations in value with purity, a strategy rare to find in works up to this point. This is seen in the development of the subject’s skin and especially the drapery, while most of the remaining modelling rests on value variations. Next, of nearly equal importance, is the masterful calibration of textural and edge definition, which subconsciously create a hierarchy of subjective importance in this work and continually returns focus to the subject. In addition, his placement of relatively bright-versus-diluted colors generally align with the foreground-background order he has constructed. Last, Rigaud has expertly employed pattern to bind the subject with the near-background and separate both from the distant background.

Unlike Melencolia I, this work does not have a Rorschach test character. While masterfully executed, it is a basic Baroque-era portrait that communicates the traits the patron wants to express into the compositional switches the artist manipulates. Rigaud reserves the strongest value differences to define and direct attention to the massive, plush drapery the king is swimming in, possibly the strongest formal choice of many. It reinforces the pictorial weight of the king, presenting him as the foremost and only subject. His armed pose, display of his legs and the off-center placement of the single-greatest symbol of his political position (crown) emphasize his youth. He is looking down on the observer, and elevated on a step adding further psychological meaning to the portrait.

Rigaud has developed a color value-defined foreground set against purity-based background and intuitively calibrated detail to create an amazing illusion of depth. Combined with his masterful development of texture and pattern, the content of opulence, decisiveness and vitality are communicated. This is a simply masterful portrait that employs its formal strategies to near perfection.