Wednesday, August 17, 2016

A QUEEN'S APOTHEOSIS


THE LOUVRE DEVOTES AN ENTIRE ROOM TO THE MOST EXUBERANT PROPAGANDA EVER IMAGINED

Marie de Medici returns to power* and as a true Medici, hires the time's leading painter to present her life as she wants it told.
(Made in 1624-26)

*In 1621-1630. For the start of her story, please click.

The room is almost empty — most visitors head to the publicized works —  so you will have it almost to yourself.

       The Regent Militant. The Victory at Julich / zoom
 A white horse, symbol of royalty
How Marie might have been remembered had she not lost her temper : Please continue.

# # #

If you come with children, tell them about the conflict between Marie and her son Louis XIII, who at age 15 took power through a plot and an assassination. Depending on the kids you can stress (or not), the mother, the son, the wickedness and intrigues of a royal court...

Then have them look for:

  • Louis XIII, the teen-age prince. In 24 paintings he appears only seven times, and never in a commanding way. Marie wants to keep on ruling: 

    The Consignment of the Regency to the Queen / zoom

Marie dominates. In fact, as he grows older Louis pretends to be retarded and almost everyone ignores him They regret that mistake for the rest of their lives, which might be very short.

  • The 14-year-old French and Spanish princesses, exchanged at the border

          The Exchange of the Princessezoom 
 The girl in white is Anne, Louis's bride

If your little girl dreams of being a princess and marrying a prince, tell her she would never see her family again. Plus, as a foreign princess the court might think she was a spy (as Anne really was). 

A queen's sole path to influence: becoming regent should the king die and leave a son too young to rule. That was how both Marie and Anne came to exert 17th-century Europe's most important regencies. 

  • Dogs, a way to fill empty space 

    The Coronation of Marie de Medici at Saint-Denis on May 13, 1610 / zoom

  • Monsters: Marie's enemies, neutralized or defeated

  Louis XIII Comes of Age / zoom

     The Queen Reconciles with her Son zoom

For teens, mention what's left out: The servant Leonora, the hustler Concini, Marie's banishment and imprisonment... (click if you haven't yet).

   The Expulsion from Paris, Alte Ponakothek, Munich / zoom
The rejected sketch for the work on her disgrace


The series is important for itself, for its influence...

  • David studied The Coronation of Marie de Medici, above, before beginning his most famous work:

The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and the Crowning of the Empress Josephine in Notre-Dame Cathedral on December 2, 1804 by Jacques-Louis David / zoom

  • The series' color and action influenced Eugène Delacroix, leader of the Romantics and creator of the most famous painting produced in France (please read on):

        The Death of Sardanapolus by Eugène Delacroix, 1827 / zoom

And for showing how omissions
are an age-old tool. 

*     *     *

Next,
A plea for peace and a threat of revolt





No comments: