Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Colbert
by COYSEVOX, Antoine, Marble, height 71 cm
Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683) was controller general of finance (from 1665) and secretary of state for the navy (from 1668) under King Louis XIV of France. He carried out the program of economic reconstruction that helped make France the dominant power in Europe.
The present marble bust is a replica of the bust commissionned by the Acad�mie de Peinture et de Sculpture for Colbert and given to Colbert, the patron of the academy at that time.