Lot 653: Verhoeven-Ball, Adrien JosephAntwerp 1824 - 1882 Marie de Médici being exiled.

Verhoeven-Ball, Adrien Joseph
Antwerp 1824 - 1882

Marie de Médici being exiled. Signed on the lower left: AJ (ligature). Verhoeven. AW (ligature for Antwerp). Oil on canvas. Relined. 90,5 x 113,5cm. Framed.

On 13 May 1610 Marie was crowned Queen of France in order to represent her under-age son Louis as a regent in the case of her husband's death. Only one day later, her husband was stabbed to death by a fanatic Catholic. The ambitious Queen was exiled a first time in 1617. Yet, she returned and stayed until 1630 when her son Louis eventually formed an alliance with the Cardinal Richelieu zo oppose her. In this struggle for power, Marie joined forces with her youngest son Gaston (Jean-Baptiste Gaston de Bourbon, duc d'Orléans) but was defeated. Her escape through Europe ended in Cologne where she died in 1642.