Portret van Childerik III 1647 - 1678

Nicolas de Larmessin I created this engraving, Portret van Childerik III, sometime in the late 17th century. Here, we see an imagined portrait of a Merovingian king, made at a time when the French monarchy was solidifying its own image through the construction of a longer lineage. The visual codes are clear: the oval frame, the ribbon, and the royal coat of arms, all signs of status and authority. France, under Louis XIV, was a highly structured society, and institutions like the royal court and the Académie Royale played key roles in shaping artistic production. Larmessin's engraving is part of this system. It reinforces the idea of a continuous, divinely ordained succession of power. This benefits the Bourbon monarchs in their self-fashioning. The historian can look deeper, using sources from the era to understand the political and social forces at play. Art like this reminds us that meaning is not fixed, but tied to the context in which it’s made and viewed.