ART THAT TELLS STORIES: RUBENS PAINTS FOR A QUEEN

DEITIES AND MONSTERS PORTRAY THE FIRST PART OF MARIE DE MEDICIS'S TURBULENT LIFE.* 

 *Queen mother and regent 1610-1616 / disgrace, 1616 / return to a degree of power, 1621-1630 / Final disgrace and exile, 1631-1643. Rubens's series, 1624-1626.  

For more on her story, please click here and here.

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Explain to the children that nudity is the clothing of the gods, that the figures are superhuman and imaginary and that corpulence shows prosperity. 

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For the very young: a feisty queen, a prince who is mostly ignored (and will take his revenge), princesses and monsters

Elisabeth Rawson

"The monster is the bad guy whom the queen defeated."

For teens, explain that allegories are messages: more here.

Claude Abron

"The tots imply that the queen may rebel if the king does not do what she asks."

Such paintings link the governing class with the pagan gods and antiquity, from the early 16th century to the early 20th. 

    Marie Triumphant (The Victory at Julich) by Rubens, 1624

For that part of the visit,

please click. 

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Next,

Finding your way through the huge museum