MARIE DE’ MEDICIRubens’s
interaction with royalty and aristo-
crats provided him with an under-
standing of the ostentation and spec-
tacle of Baroque (particularly Italian)
art that appealed to the wealthy and
privileged. Rubens, the born courtier,
reveled in the pomp and majesty of
royalty. Likewise, those in power
embraced the lavish spectacle that
served the Catholic Church so well in
Italy. The magnificence and splendor
of Baroque imagery reinforced the
authority and right to rule of the highborn. Among Rubens’s royal
patrons was Marie de’ Medici, a member of the famous Florentine
house and widow of Henry IV (r. 1589–1610), the first Bourbon
king of France. She commissioned Rubens to paint a series memori-
alizing and glorifying her career. Between 1622 and 1626, Rubens,
working with amazing creative energy, produced 21 huge historical-
allegorical pictures designed to hang in the queen’s new palace, the
Luxembourg, in Paris.
In Arrival of Marie de’ Medici at Marseilles (FIG. 25-3), Marie
disembarks in France after her sea voyage from Italy. An allegorical
personification of France, draped in a cloak decorated with the fleur-
de-lis(the floral symbol of French royalty), welcomes her. The sea
and sky rejoice at her safe arrival. Neptune and the Nereids (daugh-
ters of the sea god Nereus) salute her, and a winged, trumpeting
Fame hovers overhead. Conspicuous in the galley’s opulently carved
stern-castle, under the Medici coat of arms, stands the imperious
commander of the vessel, the only immobile figure in the composi-
tion. In black and silver, this figure makes a sharp accent amid the
swirling tonality of ivory, gold, and red. Rubens enriched the sur-
faces with a decorative splendor that pulls the whole composition
together. The audacious vigor that customarily enlivens the artist’s
figures, beginning with the monumental, twisting sea creatures, vi-
brates through the entire design.CONSEQUENCES OF WAR Rubens’s diplomatic missions
gave him great insight into European politics, and he never ceased to
promote peace. Throughout most of his career, war was constant.
When commissioned in 1638 to produce a painting (FIG. 25-4) for
Ferdinando II de’ Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany (r. 1621–1670),
Rubens took the opportunity to express his attitude toward the
Thirty Years’ War (see “Rubens on Consequences of War,” page 677).
The fluid articulation of human forms in this work and the energy
that emanates from the chaotic scene are reminiscent of Rubens’s
other paintings.676 Chapter 25 NORTHERN EUROPE, 1600 TO 170025-3Peter Paul Rubens,
Arrival of Marie de’ Medici at
Marseilles,1622–1625. Oil on canvas,
12 11 –^12 9 7 . Louvre, Paris.
Marie de’ Medici asked Rubens to
paint 21 large canvases glorifying her
career. In this historical-allegorical
picture of robust figures in an opulent
setting, the sea and sky rejoice at the
queen’s arrival in France.
1 ft.25-3ARUBENS,
Garden of Love,
1630–1632.