Why Marie de Medici is called the most problematic queen mother, and How Rubens' paintings helped her

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Maria Medici was born into the powerful and influential Medici family, renowned patrons of the arts. She was the daughter of Francesco I Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Joanna of Austria, Archduchess of the Hapsburgs. Although her upbringing was overshadowed by the early death of her mother and neglect of her father, she received an excellent education, which, in accordance with family traditions, gave her a solid foundation in the visual arts. These skills proved to be very useful in the future when she commissioned a cycle of paintings about her life from Peter Paul Rubens. What problem did the Medici solve the masterpieces of Rubens?

Biography of Maria de Medici

Mary became Queen of France in 1600 when she married Henry IV (this was his second marriage). After the murder of her husband in 1610, Mary became regent of her son, the future Louis XIII. However, the capricious style of government and the change in her husband's policy forced Louis to expel her in 1617. Through the intervention of Cardinal Richelieu, she was allowed to return in 1621. The weakness of royalty led to a revival of aristocratic expectations of power sharing and ultimately led to the convening of the States General in 1614. The distribution of pensions and other booty to the great nobles drained the treasury, but did not prevent their growing discontent.

Interestingly, Marie de Medici is considered one of the most troubled queens in history - a lightning rod to discontent with her son's rule and especially his chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu. However, one cannot but reckon with her significant patronage of art and her extensive building projects that still grace Paris.

In 1630, she provoked another crisis, called the Day of the Deceivers, in which she tried to eliminate Richelieu, who by then had become an adversary. The conspiracy backfired and Marie was once again driven out never to return to France. She fled to Brussels in July 1631 and never returned. Eleven years later, she died in poverty.

Medici art and politics

As mentioned above, Maria de Medici was an important patroness of the arts. Shortly after the assassination of Henry IV, she hired Salomon de Bross to begin work on a new palace that would be less austere and somewhat medieval than the Louvre.

Demonstrating her political power, Maria de Medici commissioned the construction and decoration of the luxurious Luxembourg Palace (begun in 1615). Completed in 1623, the Medici Palace combined French flavors with Italian splendor. Its interior, the Medici Gallery, was adorned with a series of huge paintings (now in the Louvre in Paris) by Peter Paul Rubens depicting the Life of Marie de Medici from her birth until her reconciliation with the king in 1619.

"The Life of Marie de Medici" - a cycle of paintings by Rubens

The Life of Marie de Medici is a biographical series of twenty-four large-sized paintings made for the Queen Mother of France by Peter Paul Rubens in 1622-1625. The cycle is considered by historians to be both a masterpiece of Baroque art and a monument of political ambition. According to this point of view, the paintings represented a humiliating bravado that ultimately offended both the patroness and the artist, publicly advertising the political ideas and ambitions of the queen. By the way, these ambitions were not only daring, but often contradicted the ideas of her son, King Louis XIII. Society could not fail to notice this.

Peter Paul Rubens "Presentation of the Portrait of Marie de Medici"

The “Presentation of the Portrait of Marie de Medici” is the most important part of the cycle. This is the idealized conclusion of a marriage negotiation that has been going on for two years. In the painting, Henry's betrothal to Marie de Medici is an alliance established by the gods, on the advice of France and inspired by the beauty and virtues of Mary. This is the sixth canvas in a series of twenty-four paintings about the life of Marie de Medici. This cycle is unprecedented both in scale and in subject matter.

A young woman in a jeweled dress with a stiff lace collar looks confidently at the viewer from a portrait placed in the very center of a large canvas. This is Maria de Medici herself. The ancient gods of marriage and love - Hymen and Amor (Cupid), left and right, soar in the air, presenting this portrait to Henry IV, King of France. Hymen holds a flaming torch in his left hand, symbolizing the fervor of love, and Cupid extols the virtues of the Medici princess. Cupid's arrow hit the target; the king is amazed. He looks up gratefully, extending his left hand and expressing his admiration for the bride-to-be.

From heaven, Jupiter and Juno, king and queen of the Olympian gods, look down approvingly, their hands touching in a tender gesture of marriage. Juno's tamed peacock looks at the divine couple. The peacock sits on Juno's chariot, just above the golden relief of Cupid, who balances on his shoulders with a yoke-shaped garland (symbol of marriage) and dances playfully on the wings of a proud eagle. The idea is clear: even the king of the gods can be conquered by love.

However, this work is devoted not only to love, but also to politics. Behind Henry stands a hero who is the prototype of France. He wears a blue silk robe embroidered with a golden heraldic line (the coat of arms of the French monarchy) and an elaborate, plumed helmet surrounded by a golden crown.

The cycle idealizes and portrays the life of Mary in the light of the peace and prosperity that she brought to the kingdom not through military victories, but through wisdom, loyalty to her husband and adoptive country, and strategic marriages - both her own and those in which she became an intermediary. This explains the close cooperation of Marie de Medici with Rubens: it was important for her that her story was told the way she saw fit.