Information
CORONATION OF LOUIS XV AT REIMS
[ALMANAC - WALL PRINT]. L'Auguste Ceremonie du Sacre de Louis XV. Roy de France et de Navarre faite à Reims, le 25. Octobre 1722.
Paris, François-Gérard Jollain, [1722]. Large engraved wall print (74 x 51 cm) with the title in the head margin, scenes from the year 1722, and a letterpress almanac for the year 1723, in red and black, pasted over a blank space left for the purpose at the foot.
| Orders and Information | € 2950 |
A large and spectacular wall print showing the coronation of King Louis XV of France by the Archbishop of Reims in 1722. It shows a lively scene, with most of the noblemen below and the ladies in the balcony, many in both places distracted in conversation, rather than watching the ceremony. A violinist plays, and one woman seems to be sneaking in from behind the curtains. A decorated, crowned and winged cartouche below identifies ten people or groups of people keyed by letters in the scene above.
A large panel below shows the splendid entry of the four-year-old Spanish Infanta, Maria Anna (later Queen of Portugal) into Paris. Eight smaller scenes in decorated cartouches and panels show various events of the year, most related to the coronation. Included are the King releasing prisoners while a man on a ladder posts a notice on the prison wall, and the King watching a boar hunt (with dogs attacking the boars while the noblemen kill them from safe positions behind a fence).
The whole print backed at an early date, folded across the middle and with a stub on the reverse. With a few small surface abrasions, and a small corner of the letterpress almanac torn away, but in good condition overall. A magnificent wall print of Louis XV's coronation.
