79

Even when Louis XIV organized the making of his own public image, the royal portrait was not necessarily under state control. The case that is studied here—a painting belonging to a brotherhood of the Rosary in Lower Brittany which figures Louis XIV behind saint Louis, his ancestor and patron—allows us to interpret the religious iconography of the king as a collective creation. The confrontation between parish records and the painting reveals the complexity of the commission, ordered by both the parish council, supervised by its priest, and the bishop of Quimper. These local authorities are portrayed within the Roman Church’s hierarchy, facing the royal group. Nevertheless, the painting does not portray praying Christians, and the congregation, removed from the scene and yet gathered in front of the altar, is integrated into a social, political, and religious order that builds an ideal Christian society in harmony with the heavenly world. The religious practices, respect for the ecclesiastical authorities, and the faithfulness to the monarchy are closely combined in the quest for salvation. In a province far away from Paris and Versailles and which had recently risen up and suffered repression, some of the local authorities and of the parishioners used and adapted a symbolic language to express their support of the king and rebuild the general order. Mixing multiple influences, the painting reveals the association of a triumphant reformed Catholicism and the strengthening of royal authority, while proving that not every expression of loyalty to the king is necessarily the result of propaganda.