Louis XIV face swap

Where this one comes from

Hyacinthe Rigaud painted this in 1701, when Louis XIV had held the French throne for fifty-eight years and had another fourteen to go. It was commissioned as a present for his grandson, newly installed as king of Spain; Louis liked the result enough to keep the original and send Madrid a copy, which tells you most of what you need to know. It has been the picture of absolute monarchy ever since.

What is in the picture

A wall of black wig, a lace cravat, and ermine everywhere — the royal mantle is thrown back inside out so that the fur, not the velvet, fills the frame. Behind him a red canopy and a marble column, arranged in no room anyone ever lived in. He was sixty-three, and the face is painted honestly enough that you can tell; everything around it is arguing the opposite.

When people use it

It is the shorthand for an authority nobody voted for and nobody intends to question. It suits the person who has redecorated a shared kitchen without consultation, the reply that ends a thread by outranking it, and any photograph where somebody has clearly dressed for a grander occasion than the one they attended.

How your face lands in it

The wig covers the whole head and runs down past the jaw on both sides, so what the painting hands you is a silhouette rather than a haircut — which makes this one of the easiest here to land, whatever your own hair is doing. The head is turned a few degrees and lit from the left. The famous stockinged legs sit below this crop; you get the half of the canvas that is about a face.

Portrait of Louis XIV — Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701. Hyacinthe Rigaud died in 1743, so the work has been in the public domain for well over two centuries. Source

Also in: Paintings · Royal portraits · Baroque