Detail of a Bust of King Louis XIV by Coysevox in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2018

Louis XIV

Artist: Antoine Coysevox (French, Lyons 1640–1724 Paris)

Date: 1678–81

Medium: Marble

Dimensions: 47 1/4 × 37 3/8 × 13 3/8 in., 661.4 lb. (120 × 95 × 34 cm, 300 kg)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon (MV 789)

Coysevox represented Louis XIV as few of his subjects or foreign tourists would have encountered him: dressed in armor. The king’s serene features below the long wig convey the majesty of an official portrait. By 1693 the imposing bust had been placed in a niche on the north wall of the Ambassadors’ Staircase used by overseas diplomats at Versailles. The bust left no doubt whose palace they had just entered.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/699688