Portait of Count Sinzendorf

Several artists, whose careers and styles form a transitional period between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, enjoyed enormous success under the patronage of Louis XIV. By far the best of them was Hyacinthe Rigaud. There is a strident quality of many of his best portraits which suggest a familiarity with Spanish painters like Zurbar�n. Rigaud rigidly provided the court with exactly what it wanted - a splendid, opulent and yet tasteful glorification of its new-found power and wealth.