The Triumph of Rome: The Youthful Emperor Constantine Honouring Rome

In 1622 Rubens was in Paris to discuss his great cycle on the life of the queen mother, Marie de' Medici, and a second French project came out of the same visit, a set of tapestries on the Roman emperor Constantine for the court of the young Louis XIII. He designed the scenes as small oil sketches like this one, to be worked up into full-size patterns for a Paris weaving workshop. This is the only design that never reached the loom. It is an allegory, where the others tell episodes from his life. Roma, the city in person, sits enthroned with a hand on a globe while a winged Victory lowers a wreath toward her helmet, the young Constantine stands beside her in shining armour, and at her feet lies the she-wolf with the twins Romulus and Remus. In the woven set, a scene of the emperor's death took its place.