Marie de’ Medici

48 MARIE DE’ MEDICI (1575-1642)

The “big banker” Queen of France

THE SPACE

The lofty Maria de’ Medici suite is decorated with an elegant 18th-century ceiling that tells the story of the allegorical Roman hero - Marcus Curtius, who leaped into a deep pit in the middle of the Roman Forum as a sacrifice to the gods to save Rome. Clouds of various shades float across the ceiling, foretelling the dramatic legend. As the hero gazes courageously into the abyss below him, he breaks the hearts of the spectators.

Palazzo Portinari Salviati has dedicated this room to Marie de’ Medici, the crowned queen of France whose innate love for beauty spread the message of Italian art and culture far beyond the Tuscan land.

THE STORY The richest heiress in Europe

Born to Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and a Habsburg princess, Joanna of Austria, Maria de Medici’s childhood was spent in luxury and splendor in her birthplace, the Palazzo Pitti. Both of Maria’s parents died when she was 12, which left her to be considered the richest heiress in Europe. Her uncle, Ferdinando I, assumed the role of the Grand Duke and provided Maria with a good education. As a curious and open-minded student, Maria showed interest in math, philosophy, astronomy, and had a passion for jewelry and precious stones. Maria was also a talented painter, tutored by many of Florence’s artists. She enjoyed singing, guitar and the theater, and remained a patron of these arts throughout her life.

MARIE DE’ MEDICI

A portrait of Marie de’ Medici, oil on canvas From the school of Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599-1641)

A political marriage to King Henry IV of France

Due to her lineage, personal qualities, and as well, her family’s power and great wealth, Maria was attractive to many potential suitors. The most prestigious among them, King Henry IV of France, became the obvious choice. The union was a political one with important financial considerations. Henry was in debt to Maria’s father Francesco I, who had financially supported the king’s war efforts and as Maria would carry a handsome dowry into the marriage, this would offset France’s debt to the Medici family bank. For this reason, Maria or Marie, as she would later be known in France, earned the nickname “the big banker” (la grosse banquière).

In 1600, Marie set off for France accompanied by 2000 people in tow, arrived in Marseilles and was married to the king in Lyon. The next year she gave birth to a boy, Louis, who upon birth automatically became heir to the French throne, or Dauphin de France, much to the delight of Henry and of all France. Marie bore five more children, but her marriage to the king was not a happy one, and the gossip in court was that she was for breeding purposes only. Henry was not a loyal husband and Marie was increasingly jealous of his many mistresses. Her quarrels with the most well-known among them, Catherine de Balzac d’Entragues, were indiscreet and shocking to the court.

Another source of unhappiness was money. Despite the wealth that she’d brought to Henry and France, Marie was prohibited by the king to spend as she wished to maintain the household with the extravagance to which she had been accustomed and to show off her royal status. The king was frugal by modern standards, and preferred to spend their fortune on battles and conquests rather than on decorating. A further reason for Marie’s discontentment was that she had not been crowned since her marriage. She had to wait until 13 May 1610 to finally be formally crowned Queen of France. The next day, Henry IV was assassinated, immediately raising suspicions of a conspiracy.

Upon Henry’s death, Marie’s son became the king of France, crowned Louis XIII, with Marie as his regent. However, Marie, abusive of her position, refused to give up power even after the

52 king had come of age. This ultimately led to her exile in 1617.

Even though she was subsequently readmitted to the king’s council in 1622, her feud with cardinal Richelieu, formally her most trusted advisor, led to her second and last banishment to

Brussels. Marie remained the rest of her life in exile and died destitute in 1642 in Cologne, Germany.

Art patronage and the Rubens commission

Marie had innate taste and an affinity for beauty. Throughout her life in the French court, she brought and commissioned works of art from Italy, including paintings, statues, and rare objects such as the ones that her father Francesco, the second Grand Duke of Tuscany, had collected in the Uffizi Gallery. She had never forgotten her roots. When she was forced to cede the Louvre to her daughter-in-law, she desired to replace it with a new residence castle similar to Pitti.

No discussion of Marie de Medici would be complete without mentioning her epic commission to Peter Paul Rubens to depict her life in 21 paintings. Rubens, who had attended her wedding in 1600, became one of the many portrait painters in Marie’s circle. Composed between 1622 and 1625, the paintings were displayed at the newly built Luxembourg Palace. Rubens’ paintings of Marie offered glorified versions of scenes from her life. In one of the best known, “the Landing of Marie de’ Medici at Marseilles,” he depicted the moment a young Marie walked upon the gang plank, carpeted in red, onto French territory, with an array of mythical Roman figures as symbols to memorialize the scene and Marie herself. At the top is Fame, heralding his trumpet, as the young and beautiful Queen enters Marseilles. On the awning of the boat is the Medici coat of arms, signifying Marie’s heritage. Cloaked in a rich velvet is France represented as a soldier bearing the French national symbol, the fleur-de-lys as he opens his arms to welcome Marie.

Although the queen’s life was sometimes a far cry from the version that she’d hoped to be her legacy, Marie was nonetheless an important figure in the Medici family tree. Her life embodied the wealthy family’s pursuit of nobility, alliance, art and recognition.

CEILING PAINTING OF MARCO CURZIO

Marco Curzio, or Marcus Curtius, was a mythological Roman hero known as the savior of Romans. After an earthquake in 362 BC, a huge deep pit appeared in the Roman Forum, which the Romans tried to fill unsuccessfully. An oracle told the people that the gods demanded the most valuable possession of Rome, and what constituted the greatest strength of the Roman people, be thrown into the chasm in order to close it. The young Marcus Curtius, fully armed and decorated on his horse, declared that nothing was more precious than a brave citizen, then leapt into the chasm. The chasm immediately closed behind him, and Rome was saved. Marcus Curtius hence became the legendary namesake of the Lacus Curtius in the Roman Forum.