Marie de' Medici

Marie de’ Medici

Marie de’ Medici lived during the end of the sixteenth century and through the start of the seventeenth century. Marie was born in Florence to Francesco I de’ Medici, grand duke of Tuscany, and Joanna of Austria. Although she was born a part of the powerful Italian Medici family, Marie was known as the Queen of France because she married King Henry IV of France, who was part of the House of Bourbon. Marie was the second regent queen of France to come from the House of Medici. She was Henry’s second wife after the annulment of his marriage to Margaret of Valois. Unfortunately, their marriage was not a happy one. Henry was mainly interested in Marie for her money.

Marie was well-known for her artistic patronage. Her main artistic task was the construction and furnishing of the Palais du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Palace. One of the ways she did this was by commissioning her court painter, Peter Paul Reubens, to create a series of paintings about her life called the Marie de’ Medici Cycle. The cycle had twenty-four paintings. The majority of the paintings depicted the struggles and triumphs of Marie’s life, but several were simply portraits of Marie and her parents. The portraits were all somewhat similar because they all had dominant yellow and red hues. The project was completed by the time of Marie’s daughter’s wedding.

One of the most fascinating parts of Marie de’ Medici’s life was the continual political unrest that she was involved in. Most of the issues were due to her husband’s unfaithfulness. Henry IV was notorious for having many mistresses whom he would promise to marry. When he failed to follow through with these promises, political issues arose. Marie opposed these mistresses very vocally and in a way that shocked the French people. The king could have banished his mistresses and supported his queen, but he never did. So in turn, Marie supported Henry’s ex-wife Margaret. In 1610, Henry IV was assassinated and Marie was proclaimed...