Triumphal entry of Henri IV in Paris

Inspired by the Triumph of Julius Caesar by Andrea Mantegna (London, Hampton Court, Royal Collection) the rigorous construction of which is reinterpreted by Rubens with the swirling vitality of the Baroque, this painting was acquired in 1686 by Cosimo III with its pendant, Triumphal Entry of Henry the IV in Paris. Even though both were left incomplete, they constitute the most important existing parts of the series of monumental paintings (1627-30) narrating the life of Henry IV of France. The paintings were commissioned by Maria de' Medici for the Palais de Luxembourg after he completed for her the series of paintings with episodes from the life of the Florentine queen, now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. This second cycle of paintings, known from numerous studies and three other large canvases, was not finished because of the queen's exile. Exhibited in Palazzo Pitti from 1687, they were transferred to the Niobe Room in the Uffizi in 1773.