Philippe, fils de France, duc d'Orléans

Translated Print Title: 
[Philippe, Son of France, Duke of Orléans (younger brother of Louis XIV)]
Date(s): 
ca. 1671

Known simply as Monsieur, the king’s younger brother Philippe (1640–1701) played no political role, but he did win a few military battles. While openly homosexual, he also married twice and fathered several children, including Philippe II, who became regent after the death of Louis XIV. Throughout his life, Monsieur enlarged and embellished his residence at Saint-Cloud, just west of Paris. (The palace burned down in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War.)

Graphic Arts Collection. Gift of John Douglas Gordon, Class of 1905.