1610: The Medici in the homage of King Henry IV of France and Navarre

Florence, the Medici Chapels Museum

July 16 - November 2, 2010

On May 14, 1610 King Henry IV of France and Navarre was assassined in Paris. France and Europe were all beginning to fear for the already precarious balance caused by his death. The news reached Florence nine days later and the young Cosimo II, recently succeeding his father Ferdinand I (died in 1609), had the task of emphasizing the importance of the small Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the European balance.

The museums of Florence (Polo museale fiorentino) together with the Réunion des Musées Nationaux have decided to celebrate the fourth centenary of the event with a huge exhibition. On March 31, the Musée national du Château de Pau opened the first edition of the exhibition, which closed on June 30 and was then transferred to Florence at the Museum of the Medici Chapels for extensive exhibition, which will be visible from July 16 until November 2. The event is supported among its promoters, in both editions, in addition to institutions such as the Italian Ministry for Arts and Culture, the Regional Directorate for Culture Heritage and Landscape in Tuscany, the Superintendence for the Historical, Artistic and Ethno-anthropological and the State Museums of Florence, the Museum of the Medici Chapels, Florence Museums with Ente Cassa di Risparmio also including the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, the Direction des Musées de France, the Réunion des Musés Nationaux and the Musée national du Château de Pau.

France and Tuscany were already tied together by previous bonds, further strengthened by the sumptuous wedding of Henry IV and Marie de' Medici, niece of Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany at the time. This union, useful to maintain a political-economic equilibrium within Europe, gave Florence an important role in a Europe that was already defined at that time, despite the dynastic divisions. The Grand Duke Ferdinando I knew how to move himself along the European chessboard with ruthlessness and skill managed to create a carefully constructed and consolidated bond for the role of Maria de'Medici assumed the day before the death of the king, when she was proclaimed queen on May 13, 1610 in the church of Saint Denis. The crowning not only strengthened the role of Maria de' Medici as a wife and mother, but also as the queen that the ruler and the country solemnly recognized. Maria was a personal success and a major event for Florence and the Medici family, due to the king's death, she was allowed to be proclaimed regent for Louis XIII and his successor to take control of the kingdom without opposition.

Obviously, when news of the death of Henry IV came to Florence, the young Grand Duke Cosimo II decided to pay tribute in a solemn manner to the memory of the king, with funerals in effigie celebrated at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, with the clear intension to reaffirm the solidity of the close alliance with France by the Gran Dukes of Tuscany and the legitimacy of the regency and succession to the throne.

The Laurentian basilica, a fourteenth century par excellence Medici church, was transformed into a suggestive and evocative manner which was designed by the famous architect, Giulio Parigi. The façade was covered with black cloth, draped with gold trim, just like the family coat of arms with two skeletons along either side; inside the decoration was developed with a series of 26 large paintings in grisaille that celebrated the reign of Henry IV. The paintings, were commissioned by Florentine painters who were part of the Academy of Design, including Empoli, Curradi, and Poccetti. They were exhibited on the walls of the basilica, also covered with rich drapes, draped in mourning. The scenic lighting, provided by a large variety of candles, helped display scenes that recall the deeds and virtues of the King to make sense of the perpetuation of his glory after death.

Of the 26 monochrome paintings, Cosimo II de'Medici commissioned 19 that are preserved and are the heart of the exhibition. The large paintings were restored in the 90s of the last century and now through this exhibition we have the opportunity to deepen the meaning and importance of history but also to identify the perpetrators. The subjects of the paintings, dictated by historical and literary French and Florentine tell military deeds performed by the king and the most significant events of life of both spouses, especially the political success as the renewed peace with the Roman Catholic Church alliance privileged between the Medici and France, composing a portrait of a virtuous hero and defender of the Church.

On display, in addition to monochrome canvases and many other things, engravings and drawings depicting the magnificent apparatus and the funeral oration will be exhibited. These engravings and drawings took part in the volume of the funeral and were given to the press in 1610 and the practice to celebrate and spread the word of the historical and political events beyond the limits of time and space, which became common, was inaugurated.

For a better understanding of events and reports that tied France to Florence, as well as personalities and protagonists who were artists, the exhibit will show the documents related to marriage, fine commemorative medals of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany with the Medici family tree, and portraits of the king and his wife as paintings and sculptures. Among all, an interesting sketch by Peter Paul Rubens with the Landing of Maria de' Medici at Marseilles is exhibited, and runs as a model for a famous cycle of paintings devoted to the apotheosis of Maria, later painted by the same artist for the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, now in the Louvre. In the cycle of paintings depicting Maria commissioned by the Flemish painter between 1622 and 1624, Rubens represents the themes of the engravings for the book on the funeral ceremony held in Florence, the same that today we are going to recall.