''Don Pedro of Toledo Kissing Henry IV's Sword'' was originally a painting of 1814 in the Troubador style by the French artist

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassical painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic orthodoxy against the ...

, showing the Spanish ambassador

Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, 5th Marquis of Villafranca Pedro de Toledo Osorio y Colonna or Pedro Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, 5th Marquess of Villafranca del Bierzo, (Naples, 6 September 1546 – 17 July 1627), Governor of the Duchy of Milan, 1616–1618, Prince of Montalbano, 2nd Duke of Ferna ...

kissing the sword of

Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...

(held by a young page) in the salle des Caryatides of the Louvre Palace. The 1814 painting is now lost. Between 1819 and 1832, Ingres painted three additional versions of the subject.

History

Episodes from the life of Henri IV were a frequent subject for French painters in Ingres' time.Condon, Patricia; Cohn, Marjorie B.; Mongan, Agnes (1983). ''In Pursuit of Perfection: The Art of J.-A.-D. Ingres''. Louisville: The J. B. Speed Art Museum. p. 238. . The incident depicted in this painting was described by Ingres in one of his notebooks:

One day Don Pedro of Toledo, the Ambassador of Spain to the court of Henri IV, saw in the Louvre the sword of the King in the hands of a young page. Advancing, he knelt on the ground and kissed it, rendering honor, he said, to the most glorious sword in Christendom.

The artist painted four versions of the subject between 1814 and 1832. The original version was painted in 1814 and exhibited at the Paris Salon that year, where it was disparaged by critics.Radius, Emilio (1968). ''L'opera completa di Ingres''. Milan: Rizzoli. p. 96. After even Ingres' friends found fault with it, Ingres reworked it in 1820. The revised composition included the figures of the Duc d'Epernon and Gabrielle d'Estrées behind the ambassador and the page.Condon, Patricia; Cohn, Marjorie B.; Mongan, Agnes (1983). ''In Pursuit of Perfection: The Art of J.-A.-D. Ingres''. Louisville: The J. B. Speed Art Museum. p. 78. The location of the painting since the mid-19th century is unknown. The composition of the painting before its revision is recorded in an engraving by Achille Réveil published in 1851. A second version (1819; now at the

château de Pau The Château de Pau ( en, Pau Castle, eu, Paueko gaztelua) is a castle in the centre of the city of Pau, the capital of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Béarn. It dominates that quarter of the city. Henry IV of France and Navarre was born here on ...

) was painted for Ingres' friend, the artist Jean Alaux. It closely replicates the initial composition of the 1814 version: In the background at the left stands a guard; an unidentified figure is exiting at the right. This version was displayed in the 2014 exhibition ''L'invention du Passé. Histoires de cœur et d'épée 1802–1850'' at the

musée des beaux-arts de Lyon The Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (french: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon) is a municipal museum of fine arts in the French city of Lyon. Located near the Place des Terreaux, it is housed in a former Benedictine convent which was active during the 1 ...

. In the third painting (1820; acquired for the

Louvre Abu Dhabi The Louvre Abu Dhabi ( ar, اللوفر أبوظبي; french: Louvre Abou Dabi) is an art museum located on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It runs under an agreement between the UAE and France, signed in March 2007, that a ...

in 2009), Ingres moved the row of caryatids from the left edge of the composition to the center, and reversed the angle of the perspective. The figures of the Duc d'Epernon and Gabrielle d'Estrées are once again in the background at the left. The painting was previously in a private collection in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

. The fourth version (1832; acquired by the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in 1981)Condon, Patricia; Cohn, Marjorie B.; Mongan, Agnes (1983). ''In Pursuit of Perfection: The Art of J.-A.-D. Ingres''. Louisville: The J. B. Speed Art Museum. pp. 80–81. is slightly smaller than the others. The setting is changed from the Salle des Caryatides to the Stairway of Henri II, and the number of onlookers is augmented by the inclusion of the poet François de Malherbe, Cardinal Jacques Davy Duperron, and an unidentified man.

References

{{Authority control 1814 paintings Paintings by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Paintings in the Louvre by French artists History paintings Cultural depictions of French kings