Madonna of the Green Cushion

In 1617 Marie de' Medici, the queen mother, was sent away from court by her own son, Louis XIII, and spent two years in exile at Blois. There she acquired this panel from the Franciscan friars of the town. They let it go for money towards work on their church and a copy by a young painter, Jean Monier, who was only 16 or 17. The original passed to Cardinal Mazarin, then to a prince of the House of Savoy living in Paris, and Louis XV bought it in 1742. In the 19th century the Louvre hung it in the Salon Carré, for a time as the companion piece to the Mona Lisa. Today it is back in the Grande Galerie, and Solari's signature is still there in Latin on the red stone ledge beneath the cushion.