Marie de' Medici kneels in an ermine-lined mantle sown with gold fleurs-de-lis while a cardinal lowers the crown onto her head, watched by Henri IV from a tribune above. Peter Paul Rubens painted the ceremony of 13 May 1610 between 1622 and 1625 on a canvas more than seven meters wide. It was one of the three paintings on the end wall of the queen's gallery at the Luxembourg Palace and now hangs at the Louvre.
The queen kneels right of center on a carpet patterned with gold fleurs-de-lis, her hands joined, in a blue and white gown and an ermine mantle that spreads down the steps behind her. A bald, dark-bearded churchman in a gold cope lowers the crown with both hands, and a cardinal in a red hat stands at his shoulder. The Louvre names the man crowning her as the cardinal de Joyeuse, assisted by the two cardinals standing in red at the far right, the cardinals de Gondi and de Sourdis. Bishops in gold copes and mitres stand beside him, one reading from an open book.
A boy in white with a blue sash stands close to the queen, seen from behind. The Louvre identifies him as the Dauphin, the future Louis XIII. Henri IV appears far back, in a black hat and white ruff, leaning on the balustrade of a tribune above the ceremony. The Louvre's notice suggests he was set back as if to signal his coming end. He was killed the next day.
Two winged figures fly in above the altar and pour gold coins from a cornucopia. They are the only allegory in the picture, and the Louvre names them as the genies of Prosperity and Wealth, announcing the benefits of the queen's regency. Women of the court in white ruffs and ermine-lined robes fill the left foreground. Two young women in white hold the train, and rows of men look down from a gallery beneath a Gothic window, some with lutes.
Two black and white dogs sit on the carpet at the bottom right. The Louvre's notice calls them pure filler, superb dogs added to occupy the corner, and records that Antoine Watteau later copied them. It also notes traces of a doorway near the dogs, blocked up later, which once opened onto a corner pavilion of the palace on the rue de Vaugirard.
Henri IV had Marie de' Medici crowned at the abbey of Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on 13 May 1610. On 14 May he was stabbed to death in Paris by François Ravaillac, and the queen became regent for their young son Louis XIII. The next canvas in the cycle, the Apotheosis of Henri IV and the Proclamation of the Regency, shows the death and the regency together.
At the Luxembourg Palace the two paintings hung side by side on the end wall of the gallery. The Louvre describes that wall as arranged like a triptych in the choir of a church, with the Coronation as the first of its three large canvases and the conclusion of the long sequence down the west wall.
Oil sketches for the composition survive in Saint Petersburg, reversed and the earliest, and in Munich. The Louvre cites both in its notice.
Marie de' Medici, born in Florence in 1573, was the widow of Henri IV and the mother of Louis XIII. She commissioned the series in 1622, when she had just returned from the exile her son 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.
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. The museum prints a remark of his on the subject of scale.
“I admit that I am more naturally inclined to make large-scale works than small oddities.”
The queen paid late, and the Louvre records that Rubens settled for ten percent less than the agreed sum, which it gives as 60,000 pounds. 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 it was too small to show the whole series, and part of it went into the neighboring Van Dyck room. The room was rearranged in 1953 and still could not take the three portraits, which were sent to Versailles for a time. 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 the Galerie Médicis as closed. Check the museum's current list before visiting.
Close reading
More than seven meters wide, the canvas holds a whole congregation, and the ceremony itself takes up only the right of center. Close up, the queen, her son, the churchmen and the king in his tribune each occupy their own few square feet, with the two dogs alone at the bottom corner.
1.The crown is lowered onto the queen's head
Marie de' Medici kneels in profile with her hands joined, her hair pinned up with a jewel, in a white ruff and an ermine mantle. Two hands in grey sleeves lower a gold crown onto her head. The Louvre names the man crowning her as the cardinal de Joyeuse.
2.A bald churchman, a red hat and an open book
The man holding the crown is bald with a dark beard, in a gold cope over grey sleeves. A cardinal in a red hat stands at his shoulder, and a heavy-set bishop in a gold mitre reads from a book held open beside him. Two more bishops in mitres stand at the left. The Louvre's notice names only the three cardinals.
3.Henri IV watches from a tribune
Far back and high up, a grey-bearded man in a black hat and white ruff leans on the balustrade of a tribune draped in white cloth. The Louvre identifies him as Henri IV, set back as if to signal his coming end. He was killed the day after the coronation.
4.Two flying figures pour gold coins
Two winged figures fly above the altar, one in green drapery and one in orange, tipping a cornucopia so that gold coins fall in a stream toward the crown. The Louvre names them as the genies of Prosperity and Wealth, the only allegorical figures in the picture.
5.Two cardinals in red beside the candles
Two men in red hats and long red robes over white lace stand at the far right, in front of tall lit candles on the altar. The Louvre names them as the cardinals de Gondi and de Sourdis, assisting at the coronation. Their robes are the largest area of red in the picture.
6.The Dauphin stands with his back to us
A brown-haired boy in a white suit and blue sash stands with his back to the viewer, close enough to touch the queen's mantle, a dark hat in his hand. The Louvre identifies him as the Dauphin, the future Louis XIII. A young woman in a small crown and white ruff kneels at the left, unnamed in the notice.
7.Two dogs on the fleur-de-lis carpet
Two black and white dogs occupy the bottom right corner, one standing and looking left toward the ceremony, the other lying on the carpet of gold fleurs-de-lis. The Louvre's notice calls them pure filler and records that Antoine Watteau later copied them. Traces of a blocked doorway lie near them.
8.Two young women in white carry the train
Two young women in white gowns and small crowns hold up the ermine-lined train that runs back from the queen. A man in a gold doublet and a red cloak stands with his back to the viewer beside them, and a woman in a dark blue-green robe lined with ermine stands to the left. The Louvre's notice does not name them.
9.Musicians and spectators under the window
Rows of men in white ruffs look down from a gallery beneath a tall Gothic window at the upper left. Several hold lutes, and the heads of halberds rise in front of them. One man at the window points down toward the ceremony.
1610
Marie de' Medici is crowned at Saint-Denis on 13 May. Henri IV is assassinated in Paris on 14 May.
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 Coronation on the end wall of the west gallery.
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.
1900
A Rubens room opens at the end of the Grande Galerie, too small for the whole cycle. Part goes into the Van Dyck room.
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 1778, 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.
The Louvre identifies the man lowering the crown, a bald, bearded churchman in a gold cope, as the cardinal de Joyeuse. The two cardinals standing in red at the far right are the cardinals de Gondi and de Sourdis, who assist him. A cardinal in a red hat stands at his shoulder and bishops in gold mitres beside him.
The Dauphin, the future Louis XIII, according to the Louvre. He is seen from behind in a white suit with a blue sash, standing close to his mother as the crown is lowered.
Far in the background, in a black hat and a white ruff, leaning on the balustrade of a tribune above the ceremony. The Louvre's notice suggests Rubens set him back as if to signal his coming end: the king was assassinated the day after the coronation, on 14 May 1610.
394 by 727 centimeters, roughly thirteen feet high and almost twenty-four feet wide. It is one of the three wide canvases from the end wall of the gallery at the Luxembourg Palace, and the Louvre's Rubens room of 1900 could not hold it together with the rest of the series.
The Louvre's notice calls them pure filler, superb dogs added to occupy the bottom right corner. Antoine Watteau later copied them. The notice also records traces of a doorway near the dogs, blocked up later, which once led to a corner pavilion of the palace.
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. At more than seven metres wide it is one of the three end-wall paintings, and the Louvre's 1900 Rubens room was too small to show it with the rest of the series.
The sources below include collection records, catalogues, scholarly research, and primary materials that informed this page. They document The Coronation in Saint-Denis, 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 Coronation in Saint-Denis page.
Web source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the The Coronation in Saint-Denis page.
Web source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the The Coronation in Saint-Denis 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
