Nicolas LE SUEUR (1691-1764) - Lot 104

Nicolas LE SUEUR (1691-1764) The Audience given by King Louis XIV to the Persian Ambassador, 1715. Drawing and wash on paper. Signed with the artist's monogram "NLS" (in the frieze top left). 42.5 x 57 cm. Moisture stain, folds and small accidents. This drawing was engraved in 1715 by "Langlois, maistre peintre, sur le petit pont à la coupe d'or" in Paris. Until the rediscovery of this drawing, the author of the original design engraved by Langlois was unknown. Provenance: former Émile Balabanian collection, Paris, until 1977. On February 19, 1715, King Louis XIV received in the Galerie des Glaces, with great pomp, the ambassador of Shah Hussein, Mehmet Riza Beg, steward of the Khan of Erivan (today Yerevan in Armenia), accompanied by his retinue, including the Armenian merchant Hagopdjan de Deritchan. The latter became Persian consul in Marseille (1715-1726). He can be recognized here by his moustache (first on the left of the group of Persians).