Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743) is the author of the portrait of Louis XIV, King Sun, in coronation costumes. This is much more than a picture of the king. It is full of symbols and decorative elements, intentionally inserted by the painter, to exalt power and royal sovereignty and reinforce the legitimacy of the absolute monarch. More than an “official portrait” of Louis XIV, this picture is the iconographic representation of absolutism of divine origin and the portrait that created the archetypal royal image of European sovereigns.
