The Landing in Marseilles (Sketch for the Medici Cycle)

Marie de' Medici reached Marseille on 3 November 1600, after sailing from Tuscany with a fleet of galleys, a queen already married to a king she had not yet met. French towns greeted an arriving ruler with a formal ceremonial entry, the entrée solennelle, with triumphal arches, speeches and the keys of the town, and Rubens builds this scene on that custom. Two women come forward to receive her. One is Marsilia, the city of Marseille in person, and the other, helmeted, is Francia, France herself, so that town and kingdom welcome her together. Behind the new queen, the Medici coat of arms on the galley points back to Florence, the home she was leaving.