Focus on Bust of Louis XIV (Bernini) and discuss the Conception.
Sculpted late in his career, the bust’s grand nature, with its dramatic drapery and regal nature can be seen as a continuation of the bust Bernini executed for Francesco I D’Este.
Despite not being an actual military commander, Bernini conceived of Louis in armour, drawing on notions of heroic kings such as Alexander the Great. Though a small man, Louis is figured as a stately character, fusing grandeur with a rich elegance of spirit. The drapery suggests the movement of wind, but also demonstrates the ability of the king to overcome such earthly distractions - he stares in to the distance, perhaps as if giving a military commands, turning his face against the direction the wind is blowing. Bernini may also have explored concept of Louis as the Sun King in the portrait, relating the king’s hair to sunbeams and the drapery as passing clouds.Yet the idealisation of the king as a great emperor was also grounded in reality. It was a feature of Bernini’s sculpture that he could combine abstract notions such as grandeur and nobility with precise individual characteristics of the sitter. Bernini paid careful attention to and played with the hair, eyes, nose forehead, and the clothing of Louis making subtle adjustments that allowed Bernini to give the appearance of the individual sitter, being without it being a slavish copy or a lifeless abstraction.To strengthen the military grandeur of the bust, Bernini designed a large globe to act as a pedestal for the bust, thus giving the appearance that the entire world was a platform for Louis’s majesty. Bernini also intended such a pedestal to raise the overall height of the artwork, so that the artwork would sit above and be out of touch of the spectator. However, this was never completed and the bust was moved from its position in the Louvre palace to the Palace of Versailles in 1680s, where it still remains now.
Palace of Versailles Versailles