Antiquarianism and the Visual Histories of Louis XIV

Book excerpt: This revisionary study provides a new interpretation of objects and images commissioned by Louis XIV (1638–1715) to document his reign for posterity. Robert Wellington uncovers a numismatic sensibility throughout the iconography of Louis XIV. He looks beyond the standard political reading of the works of art made to document the Sun King’s history, to argue that they are the results of a creative process wedded to antiquarianism, an intellectual culture that provided a model for the production of history in the grand siècle.