Lot 22: School of Jean Petitot (French, 1607-1691) Louis XIV of Bourbon (1638-1715), King of France (1643-1715), wearing armour, frilled white lace cravat, crimson ribbon and blue sash of the Order of Saint-Esprit

Louis XIV of Bourbon (1638-1715), King of France (1643-1715), wearing armour, frilled white lace cravat, crimson ribbon and blue sash of the Order of Saint-Esprit.
Enamel, gold filigree frame, decorated with blue and white enamel flowers.
Oval, 37mm (1 7/16in) high

Louis XIV, known as le Roi Soleil (the Sun King), was King of France and of Navarre. His reign, is the longest documented reign of any European monarch, lasting seventy-two years. Louis began personally governing France in 1661 after the death of his prime minister, the Italian Cardinal Mazarin. He was a firm believer in the theory of the divine right of kings.

For much of Louis' reign, France stood as the leading European power, engaging in three major wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession and two minor conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions. He supported and patronized the work of prominent political, military and cultural figures such as Colbert, Molière, Le Brun, Rigaud and Le Nôtre.

Upon his queen's death in 1683, Louis remarked that she had caused him unease on no other occasion. Only one of their six children survived to adulthood, the eldest known as le Grand Dauphin. Louis' mistresses were no secret and he had many illegitimate children, most of whom were married to members of cadet branches of the royal family. Louis proved more faithful to his second wife, whom he secretly married at the lavish Palace of Versailles in 1683. Although never announced or discussed publicly, this marriage was an open secret and would last until his death just days before his seventy-seventh birthday.

Louis was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson who became Louis XV as he outlived all of his intermediate heirs, including his eldest grandson Louis, the Duke of Bourgogne.