Portrait of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, as a Child

On 17 November 1611 a four-year-old boy died at the French court, and his younger brother inherited everything that had been meant for him, the title Duke of Orléans, the betrothal, and the place next to the throne. Gaston was three. He stayed heir to the French crown for 27 years, until Louis XIII finally fathered a son in 1638, and he spent much of that time in conspiracies against Cardinal Richelieu. He was pardoned every time. Chalais, Montmorency and Cinq-Mars, the men who plotted with him, were beheaded. A child in that position got painted over and over: the Florentine galleries hold four portraits of Gaston as a small boy by Pourbus and his workshop, under four separate inventory numbers. This is the one that measures 53 by 42 centimetres, and the gallery gives it no year at all, only the early 17th century.