The Arrival of Marie de Medici at Marseilles is a Baroque painting by Sir Peter Paul Rubens executed ca. 1622-1625. It was commissioned by Marie de' Medici of France to commemorate the life of her and her husband Henry IV of France. This painting was one of the 24 paintings in the Marie de' Medici cycle by Rubens. [1] The painting is in the Louvre in Paris. [2]
Marie de Medici commissioned 24 paintings, pictures that depicted historical events in her life, with the intention to decorate the Palais du Luxembourg. She commissioned the paintings in an attempt to sway public opinion regarding her right to rule. Due to her foreign heritage, the French saw her as undeserving of her position as a ruler. After her arrival, she married Henry IV in 1600. He would die ten years later, well before the cycle was commissioned. [3]
The Arrival of Marie de’ Medici at Marseilles shows the Queen of France arriving by ship in Marseille on November 3, 1600. She is greeted by unknown characters that represent France, as they are seen with the French royalty symbol, the Fleur-de-lis. At the bottom of the painting, Neptune and the daughters of Nereus, the Sea God, are seen saluting the Queen. At the top of the painting, the character Fame is flying overhead, trumpeting the Queen’s arrival. Rubens uses these symbolic figures to transform a historical event into an allegory that reinforces Marie de' Medici's right to the throne. The various French symbols depicted greeting Marie upon her arrival are meant to establish good will and respect between her and the French people. [4]
Henry IV, also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. He pragmatically balanced the interests of the Catholic and Protestant parties in France as well as among the European states. He was assassinated in 1610 by a Catholic zealot, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.
Marie de' Medici was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV. Marie served as regent of France between 1610 and 1617 during the minority of her son Louis XIII. Her mandate as regent legally expired in 1614, when her son reached the age of majority, but she refused to resign and continued as regent until she was removed by a coup in 1617.
Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometers southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The medieval castle and subsequent palace served as a residence for the French monarchs from Louis VII to Napoleon III. Francis I and Napoleon were the monarchs who had the most influence on the palace as it stands today. It became a national museum in 1927 and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 for its unique architecture and historical importance.
Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569–1622) was a Flemish painter, son of Frans Pourbus the Elder and grandson of Pieter Pourbus. He was born in Antwerp and died in Paris. He is also referred to as "Frans II".
Concino Concini, 1st Marquis d'Ancre, was an Italian politician, best known for being a minister of Louis XIII of France, as the favourite of Louis's mother, Marie de Medici, Queen of France. In 1617 he was killed at the behest of the King.
The Luxembourg Palace is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of the regent Marie de' Medici, mother of King Louis XIII. After the Revolution it was refashioned (1799–1805) by Jean Chalgrin into a legislative building and subsequently greatly enlarged and remodeled (1835–1856) by Alphonse de Gisors. The palace has been the seat of the upper houses of the various French national legislatures since the establishment of the Sénat conservateur during the Consulate; as such, it has been home to the Senate of the Fifth Republic since its establishment in 1958.
Elisabeth of France or Isabella of Bourbon was Queen of Spain from 1621 to her death and Queen of Portugal from 1621 to 1640, as the first spouse of King Philip IV & III. She served as regent of Spain during the Catalan Revolt in 1640–42 and 1643–44.
Pierre Franqueville, generally called Pietro Francavilla, was a Franco-Flemish sculptor trained in Florence, who provided sculpture for Italian and French patrons in the elegant Late Mannerist tradition established by Giambologna.
Peter Snayers or Pieter Snayers (1592–1667) was a Flemish painter known for his panoramic battle scenes, depictions of cavalry skirmishes, attacks on villages, coaches and convoys and hunting scenes. He established his reputation mainly through his topographic battle scenes providing a bird's eye view over the battlefield. He further painted large landscapes and portraits of the aristocracy. He was a regular collaborator of local landscape painters and also Rubens.
Catherine of Cleves, Countess of Eu was the wife of Henry I, Duke of Guise and the matriarch of the powerful and influential House of Guise. By marriage, she was Duchess of Guise from 1570 to 1588, and Dowager Duchess of Guise thereafter. She was also Countess of Eu in her own right from 1564.
The Marie de' Medici Cycle is a series of twenty-four paintings by Peter Paul Rubens commissioned by Marie de' Medici, widow of Henry IV of France, for the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. Rubens received the commission in the autumn of 1621. After negotiating the terms of the contract in early 1622, the project was to be completed within two years, coinciding with the marriage of Marie's daughter, Henrietta Maria. Twenty-one of the paintings depict Marie's own struggles and triumphs in life. The remaining three are portraits of herself and her parents. The paintings now hang in the Louvre in Paris.
Catherine de' Medici was also patron for building projects including the Valois chapel at Saint-Denis, the Tuileries Palace, and the Hôtel de la Reine in Paris, and extensions to the château of Chenonceau, near Blois. Born in 1519 in Florence to an Italian father and a French mother, Catherine de' Medici was a daughter of both the Italian and the French Renaissance. She grew up in Florence and Rome under the wing of the Medici popes, Leo X and Clement VII. In 1533, at the age of fourteen, she left Italy and married Henry, the second son of Francis I and Queen Claude of France. On doing so, she entered the greatest Renaissance court in northern Europe.
Henry IV of France was the first Bourbon king of France. Formerly known as Henri of Navarre, he succeeded to the French throne with the extinction of House of Valois, at the death of Henry III of France.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens's highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens was a painter producing altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. He was also a prolific designer of cartoons for the Flemish tapestry workshops and of frontispieces for the publishers in Antwerp.
Lodewijk de Vadder was a Flemish Baroque landscape painter, draughtsman, engraver and tapestry designer. His landscapes represent a move away from the Mannerist tradition of landscapes painting in Flemish art towards a more naturalistic approach exemplified by looser brushwork and an emphasis on atmospheric effects. He was the first Flemish landscape painter who painted dune landscapes as the primary feature of his landscapes. While his loose brush handling shows the influence of Rubens and Adriaen Brouwer, his restrained palette shows his awareness of developments in the Dutch Republic.
The Gonzaga Family in Adoration of the Holy Trinity is a painting by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, housed in the Ducal Palace in Mantua, Italy. The work was commissioned by Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga for the Jesuit church in Mantua, while Rubens was his court painter.
Consequences of War, also known as Horror of war, was executed between 1638-1639 by Peter Paul Rubens in oil paint on canvas. It was painted for Ferdinando II de' Medici. Although commissioned by an Italian, art historians characterize both the work and the artist as Flemish Baroque. It serves as a commentary on a European continent ravaged by the Thirty Years' War, and the artist employed numerous symbols, both contemporary and ancient, to deplore the state of the continent.
Pieter van Mol or Peter van Mol was a Flemish painter known for his history paintings of religious subject matter, and to a lesser extent for his allegorical compositions, genre scenes and portraits. His style was profoundly influenced by Rubens, Abraham Janssens and Artus Wolffort. He was court painter to the King and Queen of France.
Antoinette de Pons-Ribérac, comtesse de La Roche-Guyon and marquise de Guercheville was a French court official. She served as Première dame d'honneur to the queen of France, Marie de' Medici, from 1600 until 1632. She was foremost known as Madame de Guercheville.
Marguerite Bahuche, also sometimes called Marguerite Bunel was a French woman painter, specialising in portraits, especially of women.
