Portrait of Louis Saint-Simon, Vidame de Chartres

This 1685 portrait of Louis Saint-Simon, Vidame de Chartres, belongs to the decade in which Rigaud was consolidating his position at the French court. The vidame — a title of feudal rank — appears as one of many aristocratic sitters in Rigaud's enormous output of court portraits during this period. Rigaud's achievement was to develop a compositional formula that conveyed noble status through pose, drapery, and setting while still capturing individual physiognomy.

The sitter is shown in three-quarter length with the formal erect posture standard in Rigaud's court portraits. Rich drapery is rendered with meticulous attention to textile surfaces. The color scheme of deep blues and reds is organized to emphasize the sitter's rank and presence.