Rigaud, Hyacinthe (1659–1743)

French baroque painter. He was court painter to Louis XIV from 1688. His portrait of Louis XIV 1701 (Louvre, Paris) is characteristically majestic, with the elegant figure of the king enveloped in ermine and drapery.

The lavish baroque of his earlier portraits, formal and grandiose, culminates in the pomp of this work. Later he developed a more intimate and natural approach, some works showing the influence of Rembrandt (he owned seven paintings by Rembrandt by 1703). Among his finest works, free of his usual grandeur, is The Artist's Mother 1695 (Louvre, Paris).

Rigaud first studied at Montpellier and Lyons, and went to Paris 1681 to enter the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Although he won the Prix de Rome 1685, he was advised by Charles Le Brun to stay in Paris instead of going to Italy, becoming a successful court painter to Louis XIV. After Louis's death he was painter to the regent, Philippe d'Orléans, and later to Louis XV. Apart from French royalty, his sitters included Le Brun, Nicolas Boileau, Jacques Bossuet, Viscount Bolingbroke, and Charles XII of Sweden.