Artists

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  Portrait of Louis XIV $AU 236.35 ~ 3,877.31
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  Portrait of the Artist's Mother $AU 251.10 ~ 997.97

Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659 Perpignan-1743 Paris) arrived in Montpellier around 1674, where he studied and worked first in the atelier of the painter Pezet and then with Henri Verdier and Antoine Ranc. From 1677 on Rigaud lived in Lyon; after 1681, in Paris. there he became the favorite portraitist of the French aristocracy and the Catholoic Church. In 1700, Rigaud was made a member of the Academie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture, and became its director in 1733. In 1709 the influential painter was elevated into the aristocracy, and in 1729 he received the medal of St. Michael. Rigaud's paintings, which were modeled on the elegant portraits of Anthonis van Dyck and on the works of Charles LeBrun, became the standard for court portraits throughout all of Europe during the 18th century, and of course their price rose parallel to their critical acclaim. Among the artist's important works are Cardinal de Bouillon, 1708, Musee Hyacinthe Rigaud, Perpignan; Electoral Prince Friedrich August von Sachsen, 1715, Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden; and Samuel Bernard, 1726, National du Dhateau de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles.