Chapter 16Absolutism and

Constitutionalism in Western Europe,

ca 1589–1715

In 1622 the regent Marie de’ Medici commissioned Peter Paul Rubens to paint a cycle of paintings depicting her life. This one portrays two distinct moments: the assassination of Henry IV (shown on the left ascending to Heaven), and Marie’s subsequent proclamation as regent. The queen is seated on a throne in mourning clothes, with the goddess Athena on her right (representing Prudence), a woman in the air holding a rudder (symbolizing regency), and the personification of France kneeling before her offering an orb (symbolizing government). The other twenty-three canvasses in the cycle similarly glorify Marie, a tricky undertaking given her unhappy marriage to Henry IV and her tumultuous relationship with her son Louis XIII, who removed her from the regency in 1617. As in this image, Rubens frequently resorted to allegory and classical imagery to elevate the events of Marie’s life.

Rubens: The Death of Henry IV and the Proclamation of the Regency (1622–1625)

Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY

The desire for dynastic glory and the weakness of his German neighbors encouraged Louis’s wars, but his country paid a high price for his acquisitions.

The Acquisitions of Louis XIV, 1668–1713

This painting is from the ceiling of the Royal Palace in Madrid. Arguably the greatest Italian painter of the eighteenth century, Giovanni Tiepolo depicted the Spanish Empire as the self-assured champion of Christian cultural values in Europe and America.

Tiepolo: The Triumph of Spain

Palacio Real de Madrid/The Bridgeman Art Library

The long wars that Spain fought over Dutch independence, in support of Habsburg interests in Germany, and against France left the country militarily exhausted and financially drained by the mid-1600s. Here Spanish troops—thin, emaciated, and probably unpaid—straggle away from battle.

Peeter Snayers: Spanish Troops (detail)

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid/The Bridgeman Art Library

Using rich but subdued colors, Pareja depicts the biblical text (Mark 2:13–17), with Jesus in traditional first-century dress and the other figures, arranged around a table covered with an Oriental carpet, in seventeenth-century apparel. Matthew, at Jesus’ right hand, seems surprised by the “call.” Pareja, following a long tradition, includes himself (standing, rear center).

Juan de Pareja: The Calling of Saint Matthew

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Photo: José Baztan y Alberto Otero

Van Dyck: Charles I (ca 1635)Anthony Van Dyck was the greatest of Rubens’s many students. In 1633 he became court painter to Charles I. His portrait of Charles just dismounted from a horse emphasizes the aristocratic bearing, elegance, and innate authority of the king. This monarch seemingly needs no pomp or magnificence to display his sovereignty. Van Dyck’s success led to innumerable commissions by members of the court and aristocratic society. He had a profound influence on English portraiture and was revered, for example, by Gainsborough. Some scholars believe that this portrait influenced Rigaud’s 1701 portrait of Louis XIV

Scala/Art Resource, NY

Puritan OccupationsThese twelve engravings depict typical Puritan occupations and show that the Puritans came primarily from the artisan and lower middle classes. The governing classes and peasants adhered to the traditions of the Church of England.

Visual Connection Archive

As the mother, surrounded by midwives, rests in bed (rear left) and the father proudly displays the swaddled child, thirteen other people, united by gestures and gazes, prepare the celebratory meal. Very prolific, Steen was a master of warm-hearted domestic scenes. In contrast to the order and cleanliness of many seventeenth- century Dutch genre paintings, Steen’s more disorderly portrayals gave rise to the epithet “a Jan Steen household,” meaning an untidy house.

Jan Steen: The Christening Feast

Wallace Collection, London/The Bridgeman Art Library

A retired sea captain who became a successful brewer in Haarlem owned the house (adjacent to his brewery) that included this room. The brass chandelier, plates, tiles, Turkish rug on the table (probably from Transylvania in the Ottoman Empire), oak mantelpiece, and paneling make this a superb example of a Dutch domestic interior during the golden age. A bed built into the wall paneling was warmed at night by coals in the pan hanging by the fireplace.

Room from Het Scheepje (The Little Ship)

Room from Het Scheepje, Haarlem, The Netherlands, early 17th century.Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Edward W. Bok. 1928-66-1

Louis XIV was extremely proud of the gardens at Versailles and personally led ambassadors and other highly ranked visitors on tours of the extensive palace grounds.Louis XIV was extremely proud of the gardens at Versailles and personally led ambassadors and other highly ranked visitors on tours of the extensive palace grounds.

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

Gentleness and deep mutual devotion seem to pervade Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride.Gentleness and deep mutual devotion seem to pervade Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride.

Rijksmuseum-Stichting Amsterdam