The image of the monarch was conceived as allegorical representation of the organic unity of the body politic. An idea which has probably never been summed up in a more poignant way than in Louis XIV’s laconic utterance: «L’état, c’est moi.» The organic unity of the body politic was also accomplished through a logic of temporality depicting the king as simultaneously timeless existence and historical figure. According to Kantorowicz: «the king, at least with regard to Time, had obviously ‘two natures’ - one which was temporal and by which he conformed with the conditions of other men, and another which was perpetual and by which he outlasted and defeated all other beings.» [20] It is the institution of royal power beyond time I will discuss next, and therefore turn towards the work of perhaps the most important artist in 17th century France and at the royal court in Versailles: Charles Le Brun. 

In his paintings, Le Brun not only apotheosises the body of the king as belonging to a sphere outside society but also the perpetual body of the king situated beyond time. In Le Brun’s allegorical paintings The Triumph of Alexander / Entry into Babylon (1661-65) and The Conquest of the Franche-Comté (1674) Louis XIV is depicted as the most glorious ruler of all time dominating the course of history. The first painting [fig. 2] shows Louis XIV in the guise of Alexander the Great as he enters the conquered city of Babylon in a golden chariot drawn by two decorated elephants, the royal cloak, his opulent helmet and sceptre referring to the glory of his reign.