Louis XIV

Louis XIV (1638–1715), the “Sun King,” ruled France for over 70 years as an absolute monarch, centralizing power, promoting the arts, expanding royal authority through war and policy, and famously debuting as Apollo in the 1653 Ballet de la Nuit, which cemented his enduring solar image.

Louis as Sun King in the Ballet de la nuit 1653

Biography

Louis XIV, known as the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715, the longest recorded reign of any European monarch. He centralized power in the monarchy, fostering the image of an absolute ruler chosen by divine right. A patron of the arts, he supported composers, playwrights, and architects, making his court at Versailles a cultural model for Europe. His reign saw military expansion, the strengthening of royal authority, and the persecution of Protestants after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). Louis’s image as Apollo in the 1653 Ballet de la Nuit helped cement his lasting association with the sun as a symbol of royal power.

Louis as actor

In 1653, the fifteen-year-old Louis XIV made his stage debut in the court ballet Ballet de la Nuit (Ballet Royal de la Nuict), a 13-hour spectacle with libretto by Isaac de Benserade and music by Jean de Cambefort, Jean-Baptiste Boësset, Michel Lambert, and others. Performed at the Salle du Petit-Bourbon in Paris, the ballet depicted the passage of night through four “watches” from dusk to dawn, featuring mythological deities, supernatural beings, and everyday figures. Louis appeared in the climactic sunrise scene as Apollo, the Sun, establishing the enduring image of the monarch as the “Roi Soleil” (Sun King). Costumes were designed under Henri de Gissey, with many original sketches surviving in collections at Waddesdon Manor and the Bibliothèque de l’Institut.