Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Colbert

This portrait by Philippe de Champaigne depicts Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's finance minister for over twenty years. The architect of the state mercantilism known as Colbertism, he founded the great trading companies, reformed customs tariffs, and developed royal manufactures while severely repressing smuggling and tax fraud. His rise began with the surveillance of Nicolas Fouquet, whose fall in 1661 opened the way to his near-total control of royal finances.