On the left Henri IV, crowned with laurel, is carried up into the sky by two gods while a woman in white grieves below him. On the right Marie de' Medici sits in a widow's black veil and is handed a globe covered in fleurs-de-lis. Peter Paul Rubens put the king's death and the queen's regency of 14 May 1610 into one canvas more than seven meters wide. It was the central painting of the gallery at the Luxembourg Palace and now hangs at the Louvre.
Jupiter, bearded and wrapped in red with his eagle beneath him, reaches down from the upper left. Henri IV, in armor with a laurel wreath and a red cloak, is lifted toward him, and an old man with a sickle raised in one hand holds the king from behind. The Louvre names the old man as Saturn and says the two gods snatch Henri IV from earth and from death. Above them a group of gods sits in a golden light, led by Hercules according to the Louvre.
Below, a woman in white drapery stands with one arm thrown over her head beside a trophy of armor hung on a pole. Another sits at the lower left in gold, holding a palm branch. The Louvre names them as two Victories mourning the hero, who is now deified as a new Hercules. A coiled serpent, a helmet and weapons lie on the ground at the far left, and a white greyhound stands at the bottom center.
Marie de' Medici sits at the right on a throne under a dark canopy, in a black widow's dress and veil, her hands raised. A helmeted figure in blue sown with gold fleurs-de-lis kneels on the steps and holds out a globe to her. The Louvre names this figure as France. A woman in a rose-brown dress beside the throne holds a long rudder, and a woman in green flies in above them. The Louvre says Divine Providence holds out the rudder to the queen as the sign of authority, an echo of the theory of monarchy by divine right.
The Louvre also names Minerva, standing for Wisdom, and Prudence among the figures advising the queen, without saying which is which. A helmeted figure in armor with a shield bearing a face stands behind the throne. Below them men in ruffs and cloaks kneel on the steps and reach up toward her. The Louvre calls them the grandees of the kingdom pledging allegiance. The canvas is 394 by 727 centimeters.
Henri IV was stabbed to death in Paris by François Ravaillac on 14 May 1610, the day after Marie de' Medici's coronation at Saint-Denis. The queen became regent for their young son Louis XIII. The Louvre describes the canvas as the central painting of the gallery's end wall and the high point of the cycle: the story moves toward it and starts again from it, so the composition has two centers.
On the left the king rises as a victor crowned with laurel, the sign of immortality. On the right the widow takes power, in the Louvre's words a heroine magnified by misfortune. The Louvre's notice adds that the mourning of the Victories casts him as a Gallic Hercules.
Oil sketches for the composition survive in Saint Petersburg, the earlier of the two, and in Munich. The Louvre cites both in its notice.
Marie de' Medici, born in Florence in 1573, commissioned the series in 1622, when she had just returned from the exile her son Louis XIII had imposed on her in 1617. The paintings were for the west gallery on the first floor of the Luxembourg Palace, which she had built in Paris on the model of the Pitti Palace. The Louvre notes that the commission let her tell her side of a life full of political trouble, without offending the king.
Rubens agreed to paint the whole series in four years and delivered it in 1625. The Louvre counts twenty-one narrative canvases about four meters high and three portraits, and states that they are entirely by his own hand, contrary to what is often said. A second gallery on the life of Henri IV was barely begun between 1628 and 1631 and was abandoned when the queen went into exile again.
The canvases passed to the queen's son Gaston d'Orléans and entered the royal collection in 1696. They were moved to the Louvre in 1790, went back to the Luxembourg for exhibition from 1802 to 1815, and returned to the Louvre for good in 1816, when they hung in the Grande Galerie. A Rubens room opened at the end of that gallery in 1900 but was too small for the whole series.
Since 1993 all twenty-four canvases have hung together in Room 801 of the Richelieu wing, the Galerie Médicis. The Louvre's list of open galleries for September 2026 marks that room as closed, so check the museum's current list before visiting.
Close reading
The Louvre describes the composition as having two centers, and the reproduction bears that out: everything on the left rises toward Jupiter, everything on the right converges on the widow's throne. In close view the join between the halves is held by a greyhound and a flight of steps.
1.Jupiter reaches down from his cloud
Jupiter leans down from the upper left corner, bearded, a wreath in his hair, red drapery blowing behind him, both arms reaching for the king's raised hand. His eagle spreads its wings beneath him. The Louvre says Jupiter and Saturn snatch Henri IV from earth and from death.
2.Saturn lifts the laurel-crowned king
Henri IV, grey-bearded, in armor and a red cloak with a laurel wreath on his head, is carried upward with one hand raised to Jupiter. An old bald man in blue drapery holds him from behind and raises a sickle. The Louvre names the old man as Saturn and the wreath as the sign of immortality.
3.The gods wait in a golden light
A ring of pale figures sits in golden light at the top of the canvas, a muscular bearded man at their center, with other adults and children around him. The Louvre says the gods, led by Hercules, decide to receive the king. The colors here are the palest on the canvas.
4.A standing Victory beside a trophy of armor
A woman in white drapery, with white wings behind her, stands with one arm thrown over her head in grief beside a cuirass and helmet hung on a pole. The Louvre names her as one of two Victories mourning the hero, who is deified as a new Hercules.
5.The second Victory, a serpent and a helmet
The second Victory sits on the ground at the bottom left in gold drapery, a palm branch in her hand. A serpent coils beside her, and a helmet, a shield and weapons lie on the ground. The armor at her feet is the king's, now put down.
6.A greyhound stands on the steps
A white greyhound with a dark collar stands on the steps at the bottom center, looking left toward the mourning figures. It is the one animal in the picture and stands where the two halves of the composition meet. The Louvre's notice does not mention it.
7.France kneels and holds out the globe
A figure in a plumed helmet and a blue tunic sown with gold fleurs-de-lis kneels on the steps and holds out a blue globe patterned with gold. The Louvre identifies the figure as France offering the queen the fleur-de-lis globe, the kingdom itself.
8.The widow on her throne, a rudder held beside her
Marie de' Medici sits in black with a widow's veil, hands raised, on a gilded throne under a dark canopy. A woman in a rose-brown dress beside her holds a long rudder, a woman in green flies in above, and a helmeted figure in armor with a shield bearing a face stands behind. The Louvre says Divine Providence holds out the rudder, the sign of authority, and that Minerva and Prudence advise the queen.
9.The grandees kneel on the steps
Men in white ruffs kneel on the steps below the throne and reach up toward the queen. One in a red cloak is seen from behind, one in white throws out both arms, and one in black kneels at the left. The Louvre calls them the grandees of the kingdom pledging allegiance to the regent.
1610
Henri IV is assassinated in Paris on 14 May, the day after the queen's coronation, and Marie de' Medici becomes regent.
1615–22
The Luxembourg Palace is built in Paris for the queen, with two first-floor galleries meant for painted cycles.
1622
The queen commissions the cycle from Peter Paul Rubens after her reconciliation with Louis XIII.
1625
The twenty-four canvases are finished and installed, the Apotheosis at the center of the end wall.
1696
The palace and its gallery enter the royal collection.
1790
The canvases are moved to the Louvre. They return to the Luxembourg for exhibition from 1802 to 1815.
1816
Definitive transfer to the Louvre, where the series hangs in the Grande Galerie.
1993
The complete cycle is installed in the Galerie Médicis, Room 801 of the Richelieu wing.
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France
Room 801, Galerie Médicis, Richelieu wing, Level 2. The Louvre's list of open galleries for September 2026 marks the Galerie Médicis as closed. Check the museum's current list before visiting.
Plan your visitAt the Musée du Louvre in Paris, inventory number INV 1779, in Room 801 of the Richelieu wing, the Galerie Médicis. The Louvre's list of open galleries for September 2026 marks that room as closed, so check the museum's current list before travelling to see it.
Two things at once. On the left Henri IV, killed by François Ravaillac on 14 May 1610, is carried up to the gods, crowned with laurel. On the right his widow Marie de' Medici, in black, receives the globe of France and takes power as regent for their son Louis XIII. The Louvre calls it the high point of the cycle, with two centers.
Jupiter, reaching down in red with his eagle beneath him, and Saturn, the old man holding a sickle, according to the Louvre. The museum says they snatch the king from earth and from death, while a group of gods led by Hercules waits above in a golden light.
The Louvre names them as two Victories. One stands in white drapery with an arm over her head beside a trophy of armor on a pole. The other sits at the lower left in gold with a palm branch. They mourn the king, whom the Louvre describes as deified like a new Hercules.
A globe covered in fleurs-de-lis, held out by a kneeling helmeted figure whom the Louvre identifies as France. A woman beside the throne holds a long rudder, which the Louvre says Divine Providence offers the queen as the sign of authority. The Louvre also names Minerva and Prudence among her advisers, and the kneeling men below are the grandees of the kingdom pledging allegiance.
394 by 727 centimeters, roughly thirteen feet high and almost twenty-four feet wide. It was the central painting of the end wall of the gallery at the Luxembourg Palace, flanked by the Coronation in Saint-Denis on one side.
Displayed at · 1816
The Louvre's collection record places the canvas in Room 801, the Galerie Médicis, in the Richelieu wing, where the whole Marie de' Medici cycle has hung together since 1993. It was the central painting of the gallery's end wall at the Luxembourg Palace, and the Louvre's hang keeps it at the end of the room.
The sources below include collection records, catalogues, scholarly research, and primary materials that informed this page. They document The Apotheosis of Henri IV and the Proclamation of the Regency, its making, and its place in cultural history.
Official record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.
Official record used to verify names, dates, institutional details, or other factual information on this page.
Web source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the The Apotheosis of Henri IV and the Proclamation of the Regency page.
Web source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the The Apotheosis of Henri IV and the Proclamation of the Regency page.
Web source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the The Apotheosis of Henri IV and the Proclamation of the Regency page.
These references provide the documented foundation for this work's history and interpretation. Claim-level citations remain attached to the specific claims they support.
Explore more resources
