Portrait of Louis XVI (1745-93)

Description This tapestry, reproducing a portrait of the king painted at the time of his coronation by Joseph Duplessis (1774), was presented as a state gift to Prince Henry of Prussia in 1784. It remained in the possession of the reigning family of Germany until 1919. The king wears the grand cordon of the Order of the Holy Spirit and the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Exhibitions

• Vive la France! French Treasures from the Middle Ages to Monet. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1999-2000.
• Prince Henry of Prussia: A European in Rheinsberg. Rheinsberg Palace, Rheinsberg. 2002.

Provenance Louis XVI, Paris, 1774 [woven expressly for the King by the Gobelins factory]; Henry of Prussia, 1784, by gift; Royal family of Prussia, by inheritance; Kaiser Wilhelm II, until 1918, by inheritance [confiscated when the Kaiser attempted to flee to Doorn in Holland]; Pollak [dealer], Brussels, [date of aquisition unknown] by purchase; Mr. and Mrs. William Hallam Tuck, Upper Marlboro, MD, 1927, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1956, by gift.

Inscriptions [Transcription] Original frame: DONNE PAR LOUIS XVI. 1784

Credit Gift of William Hallam Tuck, 1956