Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony (1739-1812)

Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony was a prince of the Wettin dynasty who became Archbishop-Elector of Trier, one of the most powerful ecclesiastical positions in the Holy Roman Empire. La Tour's 1763 pastel captures him at twenty-four, the year he became Archbishop-Elector, at the outset of what would be a long and eventful ecclesiastical career lasting until his death in 1812. The combination of royal Saxon birth and high Church office made Clemens Wenceslaus one of the significant figures at the intersection of religious and secular power in late eighteenth-century Germany. The Musée Antoine-Lécuyer holds this work alongside many of La Tour's other great portraits, situating it within the full range of his royal and aristocratic production. The 1763 date places the portrait in La Tour's late mature period, when his pastel technique was at its most refined.

Pastel on paper, with La Tour's full technical mastery deployed in the rendering of a young ecclesiastical prince. The complex layering of ecclesiastical dress over aristocratic bearing required careful compositional planning. La Tour's rich, velvety surface is fully realised in this late mature work.