After Van Loo studio
acrylic on postcard
14.8 x 10.4 cm
size in frame: 25.6 x 21.2 cm
Using acrylic, I have painted onto a postcard of the portrait of Louis XV by the studio of Van Loo from the Wallace Collection, London.
The original postcard showed a reduced contemporary copy of the life-size portrait of Louis XV (1710-74), King of France 1715-74, by Van Loo. Commissioned in 1759, and exhibited at the Salon of 1761, in the original painting Van Loo was referring back to Rigaud's famous portrait of Louis XIV of 1701 now in the Musée du Louvre. Two official replicas were made by Van Loo, and numerous other copies by the so-called Cabinet du Roi, a studio of copyists in Versailles, which was specifically set up for the reproduction of official portraits. They were made as diplomatic gifts or gifts to friends. Copies can be found in the collections of Woburn Abbey, the Royal Museum of Copenhagen and Versailles.
In my version, I have covered the King’s head in a peeling lemon, on top of which a large settling bird. To elevate the postcard support and to somewhat disguise the painted additions, I made a frame using a richly ornate moulding . As well as being an artist, I am an Old Master researcher, and it interests me to interact with art from the past in this way.
Reference image:
Louis-Michel van Loo (studio of) (1707-1771), Louis XV, 1760’s, oil on canvas, 136.6 x 104 cm, Wallace Collection