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Lot Essay
The daughter of Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Maria had lost her mother at the age of five and her father at fourteen. At the rather late age of twenty-seven she was married for political reasons to Henri IV of France, whom she had never seen. Henri had been divorced from his first childless wife, and now hoped for an heir to the throne; she duly obliged and they had five children together before he was assassinated on 14 May 1610, the day after her formal Coronation as Queen of France, the scene here depicted by Pot.
On her husband's death she immediately assumed the Regency, which Henri had conferred upon her less than two months before, then yielded it to her son, Louis XIII, upon his coming of age in 1614. Her relationship with her son soon deteriorated. In 1617 when her favourite, Concino Concini, Maréchal d'Ancre, was killed, and his wife, a friend of Maria since childhood, was executed, Maria's position was gravely compromised. Having fled Paris, she was confined to the chateau of Blois, where she remained for two years. After various clashes, a reconcilation between the Queen and her son was effected, possibly with the aid of Richelieu and Maria was permittted to return to Paris in 1620. It was at this moment that she commissioned Rubens for his great cycle of monumental canvases for the Luxembourg Palace, depicting her life in one gallery and the life of Henri IV in another (now in the Louvre). Pot's depiction of the event bears little resemblance to Rubens's composition, the latter choosing to portray the the Queen being crowned at the right side of the composition rather than in the centre, as in Pot's canvas.
On her husband's death she immediately assumed the Regency, which Henri had conferred upon her less than two months before, then yielded it to her son, Louis XIII, upon his coming of age in 1614. Her relationship with her son soon deteriorated. In 1617 when her favourite, Concino Concini, Maréchal d'Ancre, was killed, and his wife, a friend of Maria since childhood, was executed, Maria's position was gravely compromised. Having fled Paris, she was confined to the chateau of Blois, where she remained for two years. After various clashes, a reconcilation between the Queen and her son was effected, possibly with the aid of Richelieu and Maria was permittted to return to Paris in 1620. It was at this moment that she commissioned Rubens for his great cycle of monumental canvases for the Luxembourg Palace, depicting her life in one gallery and the life of Henri IV in another (now in the Louvre). Pot's depiction of the event bears little resemblance to Rubens's composition, the latter choosing to portray the the Queen being crowned at the right side of the composition rather than in the centre, as in Pot's canvas.