Louis XVI (1754–1793), King of France

Born in Paris, Jean Laurent Mosnier trained at the Académie de Saint-Luc and became a master there in 1766. He attracted the attention of the court and painted Marie Antoinette in 1776. He became a member of the Académie Royale in 1788 but was one of the first French artists to immigrate to England on the outbreak of the French Revolution. After exhibiting at the Royal Academy from London addresses between 1791 and 1796, Mosnier went to Hamburg and then to Russia, where he entered the service of Alexander I (1777–1825). He died in St. Petersburg. Nine miniatures by Mosnier—of which four are dated—are in the Louvre.

Leo R. Schidlof (The Miniature in Europe in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries, Graz, 1964, vol. 2, p. 574) records that Mosnier was called the Roslin of miniature painting (after Alexandre Roslin [1718–1793]) because of his skill in rendering silk, a feature apparent in this portrait. In spite of the supposed signature, some doubts have been expressed about the authorship of this miniature. Pierrette Jean-Richard (1995) does not think it is in Mosnier's style. Gerrit Walczak (2002), however, attributes it to Mosnier and considers it the latest known work by that artist.

The sitter wears the blue ribbon and badge of the Order of the Saint-Esprit, and the red ribbon and badge of the Order of Saint-Louis. The costume is identical to that worn by Louis XVI in a miniature attributed to Antoine François Callet (1741–1823) also in The Met (32.75.10).

[2016; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

Inscription: Signed and dated(?) (left edge, in black): J.L. Mosnier · 1790

Mrs. Leopold (Millie Bruhl) Fredrick, New York (by 1960–d. 1962; inv., 1960, no. 84)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Eighteenth-Century Woman," December 12, 1981–September 5, 1982, unnumbered cat. (p. 60).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 58.

Edward Grosvenor Paine. Inventory of the miniatures in the Fredrick collection. 1960, p. 12, no. 84, as by T.L. Molnick or Molnier [both misreadings of the signature; see Ref. Reynolds and Baetjer 1996].

Pierrette Jean-Richard. Letter. June 12, 1995, does not think it is in Mosnier's style.

Graham Reynolds with the assistance of Katharine Baetjer. European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 11, 14, 97, no. 58, colorpl. 58 and ill. p. 97.

Gerrit Walczak. Letter to Katharine Baetjer. March 15, 2002, attributes it to Mosnier, considering it the latest known work by that artist.