Resumen de Charles Le Brun's Lost Equestrian Painting of Louis XIV (1663). A Reconstruction
A reconstruction of Charles Le Brun's 1663 lost equestrian painting of King Louis XIV. A detailed description of this work was provided by André Félibien in the 1663 booklet Portrait du Roy. The painter is not identified in this text, but the work is listed as part of the “Tableaux de M. le Brun” in the index to the 1671 collection of Félibien's essays. Moreover, Claude Nivelon—Le Brun's biographer—attributed the painting to him and briefly described it. Therefore, Félibien's text and Nivelon's description can help reconstruct the painting's appearance, along with an equestrian portrait of the king (Sychrov Castle, Czech Republic) that can be attributed to a follower of Le Brun, which repeats some of the lost painting's dramatis personae.
