Louis XVI in Coronation Robes

The portrait was produced by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis in 1776 and publicly exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1777, where it became a popular image of the monarch. According to a 1913 assessment by Bellendy cited in the Joconde record, the original is now considered lost, surviving only through a print by Muller and a sketch by C. de Saint-Aubin in the Salon livret.

Of the multiple versions produced by Duplessis and other hands, the canvas at the Musée Ingres Bourdelle in Montauban is regarded as the most important. The Joconde entry argues that this Montauban example is genuinely by Duplessis and of markedly higher quality than the replicas or copies held at the Musée Carnavalet, the Museum of French History at Versailles, Besançon, Valenciennes, and the Louvre, and is likely the original itself rather than a copy. The same record disputes an earlier claim by Forestié (1907) that the painting came from Bishop Le Tonnelier de Breteuil of Montauban, asserting instead that it originated in the royal collections.

The Wikidata entry locates the work at the Palace of Versailles, while the Joconde database places it at the Musée Ingres Bourdelle in Montauban.

The principal version of the portrait is held at the Musée Ingres Bourdelle in Montauban, catalogued by the French Ministry of Culture under Joconde reference 06070000102. According to the museum's own records, the Montauban canvas is regarded as the definitive example, likely the original from the royal collections rather than a later copy.

The painting was first shown publicly at the Salon of 1777 in Paris. The original produced in 1776 is now considered lost; the Montauban version is accompanied by a Muller engraving and a sketch by C. de Saint-Aubin in the Salon livret as historical documentation.

Additional versions of the composition are held at the Musée Carnavalet and the Museum of French History at the Palace of Versailles, with further copies or replicas recorded at Besançon, Valenciennes, and the Louvre.

The portrait was first exhibited at the Salon of 1777 in Paris, establishing its public significance as an representation of the newly crowned monarch. Scholarly debate, notably advanced by Bellendy in 1913, has centered on the status of the Montauban version at the Musée Ingres Bourdelle. While the 1776 original was long considered lost, this version's superior quality compared to other replicas at the Musée Carnavalet, the Museum of French History at Versailles, Besançon, Valenciennes, and the Louvre has led to its identification as likely the original from the royal collections rather than a copy from the collection of Mgr Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, bishop of Montauban, as Forestié claimed in 1907.

The image's political utility is underscored by the existence of multiple versions, indicating its function as a widely circulated portrait of Louis XVI during his reign.

Duplessis's 1777 coronation portrait of Louis XVI established a visual archetype for the monarch's ceremonial authority, a motif that resonated through later Revolutionary and Restoration imagery. The work's emphasis on regalia such as the Order of the Holy Spirit and ermine-lined robes informed subsequent state portraits, reinforcing an image of continuity that persisted in French republican iconography. Reproductions of the painting circulated widely, influencing public perception of Louis XVI during the turbulent 1780s and beyond, and the surviving version at Musée Ingres Bourdelle is frequently cited as a reference point in scholarly analyses of royal portraiture.

Its status as the most authoritative replica underscores its role in shaping the legacy of the king's visual representation.

Joseph Duplessis painted a portrait of Louis XVI in 1776, showing the king in the ermine‑lined robes he wore at his coronation in Reims. The work was displayed at the Paris Salon of 1777 and quickly became a widely reproduced image of the monarch.