Portrait of King Louis XVI in Full Coronation Regalia

During the years following his return to France from Rome, where he had studied at the Académie de France from 1767-1771, Callet was commissioned by various members of the royal family to execute their formal state portraits. Official portraits of the king were often commissioned in several versions, some meant as diplomatic gifts or emblems of royal patronage, as in the present case. This version was presented by King Louis XVI directly to Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, the Contrôleur Général des Finances. (Callet was commissioned in 1778 to paint the prime version of the present portrait.) The portrait adheres closely in composition and pose to Hyacinthe Rigaud's famous full-length portrait of King Louis XIV.