The gathering of the gods on Olympus chasing the Vices, 1622-1625

This canvas, some seven metres wide, once had to make room for a door. At the lower left the Louvre's catalogue notes traces of the opening that led from the queen's gallery in the Luxembourg Palace onto a terrace above what is now the rue de Vaugirard, and Rubens's oil sketch in Munich shows the doorway plainly. An old memorandum explains the subject. Jupiter and Juno consult on how to bring Europe peace through an alliance with Spain, the pair of royal marriages Marie de' Medici arranged as regent. Two couples of doves, tied together on a globe, stand for that plan. In front, Minerva and the sun god drive out Discord, Fury and Fraud, while Venus holds back Mars. The sun god, striding forward nude in his red cloak, recalls a famous ancient statue, the Apollo Belvedere.