Calendrier royal indiquant le cours du soleil LCCN2004676865-restored
Miscellaneous Items in High Demand, PPOC, Library of Congress
1706
- Classification
- Photograph
- Museum
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit line
- Library of Congress Catalog: https://lccn.loc.gov/2004676865 Image download: https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/ppmsca/06700/06705u.tif Original url: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004676865/
- Rights
- Public domain, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
About this work
A satirical French engraving from the 18th century, originally titled at the top as "CALENDRIER ROYAL INDIQUANT LE COURS DU SOLEIL" (Royal Calendar Indicating the Course of the Sun). It is a political and critical caricature directed against King Louis XIV of France (historically known as the "Sun King").
The central figure: At the center of the sun, seated on his throne in a formal but ridiculed pose (with his legs crossed and holding a scepter), is Louis XIV.
The sun's rays: Instead of emitting light or beneficial heat, each of the sun's rays contains inscriptions in French detailing the failures, scandals, financial debts, political lies, and excesses of his reign.
The eclipse: In the upper left corner, a small solar eclipse is depicted, dated May 12, 1706 ("Eclipse 12 Mai 1706"). This real astronomical event was widely used by opponents and anti-French propaganda (especially Dutch and British during the War of the Spanish Succession) as a symbol of the decline of his power and the fading of his glory.
It is a highly representative historical piece of propaganda from that era, which used the monarch's own iconography (the Sun) to subvert it and attack his legacy.
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