Ruiterportret van Lodewijk XIV 1721 - 1771

Pierre François Tardieu created this print, *Equestrian Portrait of Louis XIV*, sometime in the mid-18th century. It's an engraving, meaning that the image was incised into a metal plate, inked, and then printed onto paper. Now, engravings like this were essentially reproductive technologies, and we have to consider them in this context. The image replicates a large bronze sculpture erected in Paris during the reign of Louis XIV. You might even say that this print is an early form of propaganda. It disseminates an image of royal power, recasting it into a format that could be circulated widely, thus extending the king’s presence throughout France and beyond. Consider too the labor involved. An engraver like Tardieu would have spent hours carefully cutting away at the metal. This artisan's intensive work was done to create something that could then be reproduced on a mass scale and consumed, reflecting the shift towards industrialization that was already underway. So, we might say this print embodies early modern society’s changing relationship between handcraft, mechanical production, and political power.