LEFEBVRE, Claude
(b. 1637, Fontainebleau, d. 1675, Paris)

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Colbert

1666
Oil on canvas, 118 x 113 cm
Château de Versailles, Versailles

Colbert was the controller general of finance (from 1665) and secretary of state for the navy (from 1668) under King Louis XIV of France. He carried out the program of economic reconstruction that helped make France the dominant power in Europe.