After Hyacinthe Rigaud

In 1704, Duc Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars (1653–1734), thirty-ninth Marshal of France, commissioned a portrait of himself from Rigaud, at a time when his reputation was growing thanks to his military victories. His cloak embroidered with the Order of the Holy Spirit, which he received in 1705, suggests that the work was completed that same year. Now lost, it was displayed in the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, which the duke had bought. A second version, similar to the 1704 work, was commissioned in 1713; here Villars is also wearing a Golden Fleece which the marshal had been awarded that same year. Many copies were made in different formats and on different supports.

The present portrait of the Duc de Villars is one of the copies of the second version with him wearing the Golden Fleece. The marshal had turned to a well-known artist to evoke his power and military genius in a three-quarter length portrait. Wearing a cuirass and with his sword sheathed, his gaze fixed on the horizon, he rests his right hand on his marshal’s baton, decorated with fleur-de-lys, while his left hand rests on his hip. He is clad in the ducal cloak of the Peers of France – an honour he had received in 1709 – lined in ermine and embroidered with the Cross of the Holy Spirit, as well as the blue riband of the Order of the Holy Spirit and the ribbon of the Golden Fleece. In the background, under a dark sky, a cavalry clash is taking place, perhaps the Battle of Höchstädt. Playing on tones and contrasts to emphasize his attributes, Hyacinthe Rigaud highlights the distinctions of the man who would be known, at the end of his life, as ‘the Sword of the French’.

While the composition recalls those of Louis XIV, King of France (1701, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. 2343) and Louis (1682–1712), Duc de Bourgogne (1702–1703, Versailles, Musée National du Château, inv. 7539), the apparel and posture of the duke seem to have been devised especially for him and served as a model for many later portraits, as for instance Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, Duc d'Antin (1708–1719, Versailles, Musée National du Château, inv. 7560).