Minerva presents the portrait of Maria de' Medici to King Henry IV of France (sketch)

A year before this marriage was arranged, Henri IV had meant to marry someone else entirely. His mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées had borne him three children, and he was set on making her queen, until she died suddenly in April 1599, heavily pregnant. By the end of that year the Pope had annulled the king's childless first marriage, and his ministers turned to Florence, where the Medici could offer a young bride and a very large dowry. Rubens shows none of this. In his sketch the god of marriage, Hymen, and a winged Cupid hold up Marie's portrait, and the king gazes at it. Francia, France in person, stands at his shoulder as the voice of reasons of state. Above them Jupiter and Juno, the married rulers of the gods, promise this union their protection.