Louis XIV (1664): Art, History and Details

Louis XIV (1664) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Robert Nanteuil (French, 1623–1678).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

By 1640, Robert Nanteuil was Paris’s leading portrait engraver, producing engravings of notable middle-class people, nobles, and royals, including King Louis XIV of France, who sat for him at least five times. His engravings, based on drawings made in the presence of sitters, feature such fine, illusionistic lines that their structure is often invisible. His exceptionally consistent system generates continuous tone. The face is composed of thin, parallel lines mixed with regular flicks that almost mimic human pores. Individual hairs on the king’s head are outlined, and a punch tool was used to create the lace neckcloth.

Object facts

• Title: Louis XIV
• Date: 1664
• Creator attribution: Robert Nanteuil (French, 1623–1678)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Platemark: 49.5 x 42.1 cm (19 1/2 x 16 9/16 in.); Sheet: 52.8 x 43.8 cm (20 13/16 x 17 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1989.240

Collection credit

Bequest of Mrs. Severance A. Millikin

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.