Louis de France, called Le Grand Dauphin or Monseigneur
1677
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 20 3/16 × 17 5/8 in. (51.2 × 44.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Lev Tsitrin, 2000
Accession Number
2000.416.61
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the opulent world of 17th-century France with Robert Nanteuil's striking engraving *Louis de France, called Le Dauphin or Monse* (1677). This portrait depicts Louis, the eldest legitimate son of King Louis XIV, the heir apparent known as "Monseigneur." Created at the height of the Sun King's reign, it captures the Dauphin's regal poise, embodying the absolutist ideals of the French monarchy during an era of lavish court life at Versailles. Nanteuil, France's preeminent portrait engraver of the Baroque period, masterfully employed the intaglio technique of engraving—incising lines in...
About the Artist
Robert Nanteuil · 1623–1678
Robert Nanteuil (1623-1678) was a French portrait engraver, draughtsman, and pastellist who became the preeminent portraitist to the court of Louis XIV. His technical mastery and royal patronage fundamentally transformed the status of engraving in France, elevating it from a mechanical craft to a recognized fine art. Nanteuil stands as the outstanding French portrait engraver of the seventeenth c...