Phillip II, Duke of Orléans
Last quarter of the XVII century. Oil on canvas.Not on display
Depicted when he was about seven years old, with Roman half-armor and a red robe, Philip II of Orléans (Saint Cloud, August 2, 1674 - Versailles, December 2, 1723) rests his left hand on a scepter bearing a fleur-de-lis. Born to Philip I of Orleáns (P2345, P2369, P2380) and Élisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Baveria (P2351), he was the grandson of Louis XIII and Ana of Austria, on his father´s side; and of the Palatinate Elector, Karl I Ludwig and Landgrave Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel, on his mother´s. He was Duke of Orléans and Reagent of France (1715-1723) until Louis XV came of age. He was also the father-in-law of Louis I of Spain.
This canvas is one of a group of portraits collected by María Luisa de Orleans (1662-1689), first wife of Carlos II of Spain, which would become part of the Royal Collection. Some of these paintings must have decorated the Queen´s Gallery in the Alcázar (Madrid), a representation space where the Queen launched a decorative and iconographic program of exaltation of her dynasty. Others would be portraits of smaller relatives, generally of bust, that the sovereign would receive as a gift from them and that would decorate the private rooms of her room. The presence in this gallery of portraits of members of the English Royal Family would be justified by the ties, relatives of María Luisa on the maternal side, since Enriqueta de Inglaterra was the sister of Carlos II (1630-1685) and Jacobo II (1633-1701). This presence would be perfectly justified because it is an official space where it tries to highlight, more than the emotional bond, the dynastic importance of the sovereign and its connections with the Royal Houses.
Puerto Mendoza, Eduardo, Una serie de retratos de escuela francesa del Museo del Prado en relación con la colección de María Luisa de Orleans: sugerencias y precisiones. Philostrato. Revista de Historia y Arte, 2018, p.5-32 [17]
