Lot 1156 D α

Le Clerc´s refined miniatures were celebrated among the courts of Europe, in particular at that of Louis XIV. He moved to Frankfurt in 1698 to work for the courts of the princes of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt and was given an annual income of 220 Reichstaler. Karl of Hessen-Kassel reigned from 1670 to his death in 1730. The Landgrave assembled and commanded a large and powerful standing army which actively participated in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession. However, he was also a passionate patron of the arts and added significantly to the art collections of his family.
Le Clerc has depicted the Landgrave as a military commander, with a battle raging in the background. This is one of his most ambitious works in this medium. A nearly identical portrait of the Landgrave was described in an inventory of his possessions in 1730 and is still in Kassel. The Kassel replica is dated 1714, two years later than our work, which is likely to have been the prime version.