The Treaty of Angoulême, 30 April 1619

In the spring of 1619 Marie de' Medici was at Angoulême, having slipped out of Blois, where her son Louis XIII had kept her, and the king sent her terms. This canvas records the settlement, the Treaty of Angoulême of 30 April 1619. For a long time it was taken for a reconciliation between mother and son, yet Louis himself is not in it. Mercury, messenger of the gods, comes in from the right with an olive branch, and the Louvre reads him as almost a stand-in for the young king. Two cardinals advise the queen. The one beside Mercury, clearly in favour, is La Rochefoucauld. The one at the far left, more reserved, is La Valette or Guise, and cannot be Richelieu, who was not yet a cardinal. Of the whole cycle, this is the only canvas with no known oil sketch.