Louis, Duc de Bourgogne (Duke of Burgundy), commanded the French army during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702. This portrait likely commemorates his leadership at the Battle of Nijmegen.

But Hyacinthe Rigaud actually paid the artist Joseph Parrocel to paint the battle background seen here.

Rigaud was also known as “The French Van Dyck” and he admired how his portraits conveyed the status of their subjects. So in this painting, although set in battle, Rigaud shows off his subject as confident and stately. One hand is on his sword and the other is outstretched and pointing.

The battle may look like an artificial studio backdrop but the wind sweeping through his hair as well as his sash is meant to show how the duke was on the battlefield. He is 20 years old in this painting but he was to die 10 years later, from measles.