Louis, the Grand Dauphin, son of Louis XIV, is depicted as heir apparent to the French throne, wearing a red cloak embroidered with the Order of St Esprit and fashionable red heels (‘talons rouges’) on his shoes. The Dauphin’s wife, Princess Marie of Bavaria, is dressed in richly patterned gold silk, probably made in France. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, under the influence of the French finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, France developed into the centre of fashion across Europe and was producing the highest quality woven silk fabrics, lace and accessories