Louis XIV,

1666

Soon after the French king Louis XIV began his personal reign in 1661, Nanteuil created this image, the earliest of his eleven engraved portraits of the king. Aged twenty-eight, the handsome king was then engaged in an affair with his first mistress and starting to embellish the gardens of Versailles. Here, however, he is shown as a military leader; the next year, he would invade the Spanish Netherlands to support Queen Maria Theresa’s territorial claims following her father’s death. In this, the first of twelve states of the print, soft features and fluffy hair evoke a drawing in pastel, another medium in which Nanteuil portrayed the king. The artist continued to work on this print, and later states emphasize the king’s dignity, featuring increasingly dark shadows and a more somber expression that lends him gravity beyond his years.