Luxurious, flamboyant dress—a voluminous wrap of scarlet silk topped by a short fur cape—signals that the subject of hyacinthe rigaud’s portrait was clearly a man of consequence. Guillaume dubois gained the favor of louis xiv as tutor to his grandson, the future king louis xv, and served as chief minister under louis’s successors, the regent duke of orleans and louis xv. Dubois was appointed a cardinal in the catholic church in 1721, a lofty aspiration at least partly motivated by political ambition: the title gave him the power to remove political adversaries with impunity. Dubois holds a letter with the words au roy (to the king), commemorating the moment he had the honor of proclaiming his former student as king. Object Type: painting. Genre: portrait. Date: 1723. Place of creation: France, 18th century. Dimensions: Framed: 180.5 x 148 x 15 cm (71 1/16 x 58 1/4 x 5 7/8 in.); Unframed: 146.7 x 113.7 cm (57 3/4 x 44 3/4 in.). Medium: oil on canvas. Depicted People: Guillaume Dubois. Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art. Hyacinthe Rigaud - Portrait of Cardinal Guillaume Dubois - 1967.17 - Cleveland Museum of Art
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