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X. Louis XIV

Entered July 2021

 

Whereabouts unknown

Oil on canvas

59.7 x 44.4 cm

 

PROVENANCE

New Hampshire, USA, private collection.

Beverly, Massachusetts, sale, Kaminski Auctions, November 30, 2014, lot 8106: Attributed to Jean Antoine Watteau, Portrait of Louis XIV, attributed on verso to Antoine Watteau, oil on canvas, est. $12,000 -15.500. Bought in.

Beverly, Massachusetts, sale, Kaminski Auctions, December 6, 2020, lot 3582: Attributed to Jean Antoine Watteau, Signed Oil Portrait of Louis XIV, attributed on reverse ”Antoine Watteau 1700,” Provenance: New Hampshire collection, oil on canvas, est. $12,000 -15.500. Bought in.

 

REMARKS

Despite the inscription on the reverse side of the canvas which claims that it was painted in 1700, by that year Louis XIV was 62 and appeared far more aged. Moreover, Watteau did not arrive in Paris until 1702, two years after the portrait was supposedly executed. Most important of all, there is no evidence of Watteau’s hand in the execution of this work.

 

In all probability, this painting is a weak adaptation of LeBrun’s famous portrait of the king—witness the details of the lace collar, the armor, and the dark wig. The head has been turned more frontal which is not an improvement, and nothing explains the pronounced protrusion of the stomach area.