Iconographie Royale de France

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All images from the fabulous Joconde database put together by the French Ministry of Culture.

• Rois de France
  From Jean II (d. 1364) to Louis-Philippe I (d. 1850), this gallery illustrates the changing styles in portraits of sovereigns. The bust portraits of the 14th and 15th c., no different than those of any private citizens, are followed by full-length but unpretentious portraits in the 16th c. With the 17th century the Baroque portrait introduces contrast between movement (billowing draperies) and permanence (the upright monarch), a sense of drama and power, and an overwhelming abundance of regal symbols (crown, scepter, mantle, throne, order collars). The high point of this style is Mingard's famous portrait of Louis XIV, whose model was followed literally until Charles X. Only the "bourgeois king" Louis-Philippe departed from the genre, posing in military but contemporary costume, his hand on the Charter.
• Reines de France
• Princes de France
  This collection brings together portraits of younger sons (or Dauphins who never reigned) as well as daughters.
• Princes d'Orléans
  The house of Orléans founded by Louis XIV's brother is the only branch of the royal family that survives in France; it briefly came to the throne in 1830. This collection documents the successive generations of ducs d'Orléans, down to the collection of Winterhalter portraits of Louis-Philippe's children.