During the seventeenth century, Peter Paul Rubens was renowned as one of the greatest and most popular of all Baroque artists in Europe. He masterfully combined artistic developments from antiquity, the Italian Renaissance and Italian Baroque with his own Flemish painting heritage; the result was an innovative, dynamic style, known as International Baroque, which was truly the first pan-European manner. His exceptional education, courtly manners, social connections and intellectual abilities made him a favorite among all of the important courts at the time, not only as an artist, but also as a friend and ambassador. Rubens’ constant interaction with the aristocracy facilitated his development of a painterly approach that celebrated the lavish splendor favored in royal courts of the period. His wealthy and powerful patrons appreciated his ostentatious representations as propaganda to reinforce their authority and right to rule. A prime example of this type of official art is the series commissioned by Marie de’ Medici (1573 – 1642), in which Rubens was to promote her divine right to reign as Queen of France. Between 1622 and 1626, Rubens painted twenty-one enormous pictures that cleverly combine historical fact and allegorical fiction in flattering depictions of events from Marie’s life. These were hung in the Luxembourg, the queen’s new palace, in the center of Paris. The image here shows perhaps the most famous scene of the series, Arrival of Marie de’ Medici at Marseilles or Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, landing in Marseilles, 3 November 1600. Marie is depicted in idealized glory, at the exact moment of her arrival in France after her voyage from Italy. All eyes focus on her as she disembarks, flanked by her ladies-in-waiting. As Henry was not there to meet her, she is welcomed by allegorical personifications of France, whose cape is decorated with fleur-de-lis (the floral symbol of French royalty), and the city of Marseilles, who wears a turreted hat. The actual voyage had been rough, and Fortune holds ...