Maximilian I (1459–1519) was one of a series of powerful German rulers form the Hapsburg family known as the Holy Roman Emperors. Through his own marriage and those of his children, he was connected to the royal houses of France, Spain, and Britain. To glorify his rule, Maximilian commissioned Dürer to create a richly detailed procession of eight oversize woodcutswhich, when assembled together, measure more than seven feet wide. The crowned ruler is prominently featured in the Triumphal Chariot of the Emperor Maximilian is surrounded by 22 young women, each identified as a particular Virtue, with every section of the chariot labeled to positively reflect Maximilian’s magnificence. Flanking this woodcut is Hans Burgkmair’s Equestrian Portrait of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1508–1518), a woodcut of the ruler as a noble knight, and Lucas van Leyden’s etching Emperor Maximilian I (1520), based on a woodcut by Dürer.
France’s “Sun King,” Louis XIV (1638–1715), was a Bourbon monarch who ruled for 72 years, becoming the longest-reigning king in European history. Several images of him and his court are on view in Kings, Queens, and Courtiers, such as Sébastien LeClerc’s etching of Colbert showing Louis XIV a Plan at the Academy of Sciences (1671) and Henri Bonnart’s hand-colored etching, Louis le Grand (late 17th century), both of which picture the king extravagantly dressed. Serving as testament to the opulent excesses of his reign is the magnificent Palace of Versailles, which he had built and where, as the seat of his government, he required his nobles to live. The etching The Masked Ball given at Versailles in February 1745 on the occasion of the marriage of the Dauphin Louis of France and Maria Theresa of Spain (1756) illustrates in detail the splendor of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, where Louis’ great-grandson, the future Louis XV, and his wife, Maria Theresa, were feted by costumed members of the court.
“I have always enjoyed reading about royal courts, particularly the court of courts created by Louis XIV in Versailles,” said exhibition curator Clifford S. Ackley, Chair, Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. “Court life seems to have been a lively, sometimes alarming, combination of dazzling glamour, scathing gossip, utter boredom, and stark terror.”
The exhibition also features numerous works highlighting Queen Victoria: Queen Victoria (1855), a lithograph of a youthful Victoria; Mr. Punch’s Celebration of Queen Victoria Jubilee (1886), a wood engraving marking the 50th anniversary of Victoria’s rule; and H.M. The Queen (late 1890s), a color lithograph by William Nicholson, which captures the queen still in mourning dress years after the death of her beloved husband, Albert.
Another celebrated queen, Marie Antoinette, is featured in the exhibition in an elegant color etching by Jean-Francois Janinet. Portrait of Marie Antoinette (1777) shows the flamboyant monarch of Austrian origin, wife of French King Louis XVI, her portrait exquisitely framed in gold and blue. Among the other works showcasing royals are Henry VIII, King of England (1544 or 1548) by Cornelis Massys, Queen Elizabeth I (about 1603) by Crispin van de Passe, and The Tournament where King Henri II was mortally wounded on the last day of June, 1559 (1570) by Jean Perrissin and Jacques Tortorel.
Kings, Queens, and Courtiers also showcases images of royals by Francisco Goya y Lucientes, including a portrait of Balthasar Carlos, Prince of Spain, on Horseback (1778), and The Ladies in Waiting (“Las Meninas”) (1778–79) — a never published unique
print — after Velázquez’s famous painting, as well as depictions of members of royal courts, such as the drawings by Jacques Louis David of Madam Mère (Mother of Napoleon) (about 1817–20), and Francois Clouet’s Francois I, Duc de Montmorency (about 1557).
Caricatures in the exhibitions show another side of royals, as seen in France Takes a Nap (1834) by Honoré Daumier, which makes fun of France’s last king, Louis-Philippe, and his middle-class manners and dress; and Year of Grace 1840 (1830) by Alexandre Gabriel Decamps, which foretells the senile antics of French King.
Illustration: France Takes a Nap (Repos de la France); Honoré Daumier, 1834. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Jean-Francois Janinet. Portrait of Marie Antoinette (1777), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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