Attributed to Frans Pourbus the Younger

Appointed principal portrait painter to Marie de Medici when he arrived at the French court in 1609, Frans Pourbus the Younger (circa 1569/1570–1622), born into a dynasty of artists, specialized in painting first the bourgeoisie and then the European courts. After being court painter in Brussels he became official portraitist to the Duke of Mantua before moving to France. He made his name for the precision of his drawing and the meticulous rendering of fabrics and jewels, highlighting the high status and personalities of his sitters.

When he joined Marie de Medici’s court, he played a part in transforming the model used for court portraits, now characterized by a more faithful portrayal of the sitter and a particular emphasis on their rich finery, aided by Flemish accuracy in the rendering of textures and materials.

This portrait is one of a series featuring the sovereign in mourning dress, begun in the 1610s. There are examples in Paris (1613, Musée Carnavalet, P2338), in Chicago (1616, Art Institute of Chicago, 1920.1034) and Madrid (1617, Museo del Prado, P001624). The present portrait of the sovereign echoes these in the attifet she wears on her head with a row of pearls beneath it, her earrings and, as in the Prado example, a long pearl necklace. Some elements from her full-length portrait in the Musée du Louvre (1610, Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. 1710), in which she wears a gown decorated with fleurs de lys, can also be identified, including the imposing lace ruff, the pearl necklet and the cross on her breast decorated with precious stones and pearls.

The artist seeks to legitimize the regent’s status through her opulent mourning wear and sumptuous jewellery. By choosing to be portrayed in a dark mourning dress wearing an attifet, Marie follows in the tradition of her distant cousin Catherine de’ Medici, also a regent of the Kingdom of France, who introduced this headwear to the court.