Jean-Baptiste Colbert

Comptroller-General of Finances
Colbert was the chief minister of Louis XIV from 1661 to 1683 after being the intendant of Cardinal Mazarin. He puts himself in the scene in this painting by Claude Lefèvre: Colbert is dressed in a black coat adorned with the order of the Holy Spirit. His assiduity in the service of the sovereign is symbolized by a clock surmounted by a statuette of Hercules supporting the globe, image of the minister assuming the state's office alone. The art of Lefèvre is mainly expressed in the mastery of rendering textures: black silk of the coat, lace collar, shining bronzes of the pendulum, bleached whiteness of the flesh of the hand and the face.
Full title : Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683)