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.
Commission Much speculation exists on the exact circumstances under which Marie de' Medici decided to commission Rubens to paint "such a grandiose project, conceived in truly heroic proportions".Saward, p. 2. John Coolidge suggests the cycle may have even been commissioned to rival another famous series of Rubens, The Constantine Tapestries, which he designed in his studio at the same time as the first several paintings of the Medici Cycle.Saward, pp. 1-3. It has also been suggested that Rubens prepared a number of oil sketches, by the request of Louis XIII, the son of Marie de' Medici and successor to the throne, which may have influenced the Queen's decision to commission Rubens for the cycle by the end of the year 1621. The immortalizing of her life, however, seems to be the most apparent reason for the Queen's choice to commission a painter who was capable of executing such a demanding task. Peter Paul Rubens had already established himself as an exceptional painter and also had the advantage of sustaining close ties with several important people of the time, including Marie de' Medici's sister, the wife of one of Rubens's first important patrons, the Duke of Gonzaga. The information about the commission in the contract Rubens signed is far from detailed and focuses mainly on the number of pictures in the cycle dedicated to the Queen's life, and is far less specific when it comes to the cycle praising her husband Henry IV.Saward, pp. 1-2. The contract stated that Rubens was to paint all the figures, which presumably allowed him to employ assistants for backgrounds and details.Belkin, p. 176
Marie de' Medici
Marie de' Medici became the second wife to King Henry IV of France in a marriage by proxy on 5 October 1600 by the power invested in her uncle, Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.Belkin, p. 182 When Henry was assassinated in 1610, Louis XIII, his son and successor to the throne, was only eight years old. Louis' mother, Marie, acted as his regent as commanded by the Frankish Salic law in case of an infant ruler. However, even after Louis came of age at thirteen in 1614, the queen continued ruling in his stead. In 1617, Louis XIII finally decided to take governing matters in his own hands at the age of fifteen and the queen was exiled to Blois.
Louis and his mother were not reconciled for over four years, and finally in 1621 Marie was permitted to return to Paris. Upon her return, Marie focused on building and decorating the Luxembourg Palace, an enormous undertaking in which Peter Paul Rubens played a key role. Rubens, then court painter to the Duchy of Mantua under Vincenzo I Gonzaga,Belkin, 42 had first met Marie at her proxy wedding in Florence in 1600.Smith, p. 127. In 1621, Marie de' Medici commissioned Rubens to paint two large series depicting the lives of herself and her late husband, Henry IV, to adorn both wings of the first floor of the Luxembourg Palace.Belkin, pp. 173–175. The first series of 21 canvases depicts the life of Marie in largely allegorical terms, and was finished by the end of 1624, to coincide with the celebrations surrounding the wedding of her daughter, Henrietta Maria to Charles I of England on 11 May 1625.Belkin, pp. 175–176. The cycle of paintings dedicated to the life of Henry IV was never completed, although some preliminary sketches survive. (See #Henry IV Cycle below). The fact that the Henry IV series was not realized can be attributed in part to Marie de' Medici being permanently banned from France by her son in 1631. She escaped to Brussels, and later died in exile in 1642 in the same house that the Peter Paul Rubens's family had occupied more than fifty years prior.Belkin pp. 174-175
While this cycle was one of Rubens's first great commissions, Marie de' Medici's life proved a difficult one to portray. Rubens had the task of creating twenty-one paintings about a woman whose life could be measured by her marriage to Henry IV and the births of her six children, one of which died in infancy.Belkin, p. 178. At this time, women did not in general receive such laudatory tributes, although Rubens, if anyone, was well equipped for the job, having a great respect for "the virtues of the opposite sex", as seen in his commissions for the Archduchess Isabella. Furthermore, unlike her husband, Marie's life was neither graced with triumphant victories nor punctuated by vanquished foes. Rather, implications of political scandal in her life made any literal depiction of the events far too controversial for Rubens to execute without incurring the disapproval from others in government.Belkin, p.179 Far from failing, Rubens demonstrated his impressive knowledge of classical literature and artistic traditions,Belkin, p. 170. by using allegorical representations to both glorify the mundane aspects and sensitively illustrate the less favorable events in Marie's life. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries iconography of the Christian world, as well as that of the Greek and Roman pantheon was understood by well-educated artists and citizens alike, and a familiar device used in artistry.Belkin, p. 180 Rubens painted extravagant images of the Queen Mother surrounded by ancient gods and at times even deified her using these devices. The ambiguity of the figures was essentially used to depict Marie in a positive light.Belkin, pp. 176-181.
Rubens's Medici commission was an inspiration for other artists as well, particularly the French painters Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) and François Boucher (1703–1770) who produced copies from the Medici cycle.Belkin, pp. 323.
Rubens
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was a highly influential artist in Northern Europe, widely believed to have played an important role in shaping the style and visual language of his time. The overseer or creator of more than three thousand woodcuts, engravings and paintings in various mediums, Rubens's works include historical, religious and allegorical paintings, altarpieces, portraits and landscapes.Belkin, p. 4 He is particularly known for his portrayal of human figures, lush and richly colored fabrics and well-developed themes often derived from both Christian and classical traditions.Belkin, p. 8 Rubens's studies of classical, Greek, and Latin texts influenced his career and set him apart from other painters during his time.Belkin, p. 20 Early in his career, Rubens studied under Flemish artists such as Otto van Veen,Belkin, p. 26 but his most notable influences come from the time he spent in Italy where he studied ancient sculpture and the works of Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, and Veronese. It was during his time in Italy that he began to make copies of classical sculpture, such as the Laocoön Group, and collect drawings done by other artists. However, the artist was also an avid collector of both reproductions and original works, not only from the masters of the Italian Renaissance, but more predominantly from his contemporaries. Rubens owned more prints from his contemporary, Adriaen Brouwer, than any other of his Italian influences or his own contemporaries, although it is suggested that Rubens's compassion and concern for Brouwer's career may have been the influential cause for his collection of Brouwer's work.Belkin p. 143 This record of visual history and the influences of his contemporaries, some who became lifelong friends of Rubens, would make an imprint on his art throughout his entire life.Belkin, pp. 41-59
When Rubens was commissioned to paint the Marie de' Medici cycle, he was quite possibly the most famous and skilled artist in Northern Europe, and was especially appreciated for his monumental religious works, commissioned by various councils and churches in the area. However, the Medici commission was welcomed by Rubens as an opportunity to apply his skills within a secular scene.Belkin, p. 173 The benefits of Marie de' Medici's commission continued throughout the rest of Rubens's career. Not only did he further establish and publicize his skill, but also the similarities that exist in his later works, such as stylistic components and themes, undeniably reflect the Medici series.
The paintings
Originally the paintings were hung clockwise in chronological order, decorating the walls of a waiting room expanding from a royal apartment in Marie de' Medici's Luxembourg Palace. The paintings are now displayed in the same order in the Louvre.Belkin, p. 181. There is an additional claim that Marie had envisioned these paintings to be studied alternately, left to right, so the thoughtful viewer would have had to crisscross down the gallery.Coolidge, p. 68. Coolidge also argues that Marie envisioned the subjects as falling into pairs, and further into groups. Therefore, Marie's visual biography was divided into three main chapters: childhood, life as a married queen, and the regency as a widow.Coolidge, 69. All of the paintings have the same height although they vary in width in order to fit the shape of the room they were intended for. The sixteen paintings that covered the long walls of the gallery measure about four meters tall by three meters wide, the three larger paintings at the end of the room are four meters high by seven meters wide.
Originally the viewer would have entered the gallery from the southeast corner. The most visible works from this angle were The Coronation in Saint Denis and The Death of Henry IV and the Proclamation of the Regency. Coolidge, 70. The cycle began at the entrance wall, featuring images of Marie's childhood years and her marriage to Henry IV. Four of the images are devoted to the marriage, possibly because marriage at Marie's relatively advanced age of twenty-seven was quite rare for a woman at the time. This half ends with a depiction of Marie's coronation. The wall opposite the gallery's entrance presents an image of the assassination and assumption of Henry IV, as well as the proclamation of the widowed Marie's regency. From there, the second half of Rubens' cycle begins addressing the more controversial issues from Marie's reign. For example, both the altercation and reconciliation with her son Louis XIII are subjects Marie de' Medici commissioned Rubens to paint for this gallery.Belkin, pp. 181-182.
The historical period that encompassed the subject matter for the paintings was a time of political upheaval in which Rubens sought not to offend the reigning French monarch. Rubens thus turned to mythological allusions, emblematic references, personifications of vices and virtues and religious analogies to veil an often unheroic or ambiguous reality. Within this context Rubens' approach to 'historical truth' may appear selective or, worse, dishonest, but he was neither a historian in the modern sense, nor a journalist; the Medici cycle is not reportage, but rather poetic transformation.Belkin p. 179