This painting of a man in court dress depicts one of Louis XIV's chamberlains. The painting is dated 1654, the year of Louis XIV's coronation in Reims. To the left of the depicted figure, in the background, we can see the newly crowned king leaving the city of Reims with his entourage. The chamberlain, with his distinctive ceremonial staff, can also be recognized in the entourage, right next to the king.

The depicted figure is Jacques Antoine (born in La Lobe 'dit Mazarin, located near the abbey of Ligny, one league from Rethel' in 1596, died in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on May 20, 1677, and buried in the church there). Anthoine was an 'officier du roi', 'garçon ordinaire de la chambre du roi' of Louis XIII between 1642 and 1664, and left a manuscript about the course of the king's illness from 1643 and his death on May 14, 1645. On December 2, 1634, he married Catherine Guignard (1618-1652), and they had two children.

Jacques Anthoine appears in the archives around 1643 and held his office until 1677, the date of his death. He is thus the first representative of a long line at the head of the rank of ordinary boy, which lasted for five generations until 1767, totaling one hundred and twenty-four years of service to the king. Jacques Anthoine was of peasant origin, but managed to introduce himself to young Louis XIII and gain his favor. He continued to work in the king's close proximity until his death. According to family tradition, he had "the benevolence of Louis XIII from the king's childhood, who occasionally granted him various favors and gave him two important positions at his court. Through these two positions, he always served the king, both within and outside the kingdom, during war and at the king's marriage. When Louis XIV was crowned in 1654, he continued to serve as chamberlain, a role he held until his death in 1677.

Seal
On the back of the stretcher bar is a family coat of arms in red wax. It is the coat of arms of the Massias family, originally a Spanish and later French family: azure (blue) with a golden bend charged with a heart gules (red).
Nicolas Massias (born in Villeneuve-sur-Lot on April 2, 1764, died in Paris on January 22, 1848), was a colonel of artillery, diplomat, philosopher, and literary figure, from 1800 to 1807 minister plenipotentiary of France at the grand ducal court of Baden and from 1807 to 1815 Consul General of France in Danzig, and was elevated to 'Baron de l’Empire' by Emperor Napoleon on January 25, 1814. This title was confirmed (with hereditary nobility) by King Louis XVIII on February 3, 1819. He was married to Charlotte Böcklin von Böcklinsau. The Böcklin family coat of arms features a red field with a climbing silver billy goat with golden horns.

Their son Charles Jules Massias, also known as Karl von Massias, was the second Baron Massias (1801-1875), who married Luise Johanne Pauline Karoline Freiin Böcklin von Böcklinsau in 1831, daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Leopold Freiherr Böcklin von Böcklinsau (1767-1829), major general in the Baden service, and Caroline Freiin von Rathsamhausen. In short, there were two couples (father and son) Massias-Böcklin von Böcklinsau. Stylistically, the seal is likely to date from the second half of the nineteenth century, in which case it would refer to Baron Charles Massias and his wife Louise Böcklin.

Origin and period

Private collection, Bremen

French school, portrait of the chamberlain of Louis XIV

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