École française circa 1816. Lot n° 5

Portrait of King Henry IV in profile. Oil on canvas, handwritten annotations on the frame: "painted from life by Pr Pl Rubens / Study of Rubens taken on the King Henry 4 for the painting of the Coronation of Medici". In a giltwood frame. H. 44 x W. 37,3 cm. History Study of the head of King Henry IV, seen in profile, after the work of Rubens from the famous cycle of Marie de Medici. The portrait of the king "from life" is taken from the ninth painting entitled "The King's preparations for the war in Germany" or "The handing over of the Regency to the Queen, 20th March 1610". This heroic cycle of 22 large canvases was commissioned in 1621 by Queen Marie de Medici, widow of Henry IV, for the Luxembourg Palace; Rubens had to complete the entire work within two years, so that it would be ready for the marriage of Henrietta Maria of France to Charles Stuart of England. The cycle reflects the life of Marie de Medici until her exile; it begins with Marie's childhood and her marriage to Henri IV, and continues with depictions of the coronation, the assassination of Henri IV, the proclamation of the widowed Regent and her politics, the coming of age of Louis XIII, the reconciliation of the queen and her son, etc. Kept at the Palais du Luxembourg, the works were moved in 1816 to the Louvre Museum where they are still exhibited in the so-called Medici Gallery, a room that is particularly dedicated to the cycle painted by Rubens. At the same time, in 1817, Baron Gérard presented his immense panorama "The Entry of Henri IV into Paris, March 22, 1594". The work was a triumph for the artist, who won the title of First Painter to the King, despite his former imprint under the Empire. It is not unlikely that our study participated in the work of the studio before the realization of the great painting. The scene of the entrance of Henri IV undeniably echoed the return of Louis XVIII to the throne of France, celebrating the new constitutional monarchy. Under the Restoration, the figure of Henry IV and the rallying to his white plume participate in the golden legend of the emblematic character of the monarchy. It is notably through the royalist press that the image of the valiant King and the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty developed; Louis XVIII became the new Henri IV embodying the legitimacy of power and especially an ideal of reconciliation of the French around his king after the bloody years of the Revolution and fifteen years of Napoleon's authoritarian reign marked by incessant wars. Although the image of the two sovereigns are opposed, the heavy character that represents Louis XVIII and the dashing Henry IV, "the only king whose memory the people have kept", the comparison with the period of the Wars of Religion remains striking. Striving to adapt to the new political realities imposed by the Charter - at the time the Edict of Nantes - the legitimate king was able to bring peace and stability to France after decades of division and internal unrest. Napoleon, considered as an heir of Robespierre, is relegated to the role of usurper. Literature - Martin Wrede, "Le portrait du roi restauré ou la fabrication de Louis XVIII". In Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, volume 53 (June 2006). - E. de Waresquiel. "History of the Restoration, 1814-1830". Birth of modern France. Paris, Perrin, 1994.