Portrait of King Louis XIII of France

1611

Frans Pourbus

(Flemish, 1569–1622)

Culture

Flanders

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

Framed: 186.7 x 122.4 x 6.3 cm (73 1/2 x 48 3/16 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 159.3 x 95.3 cm (62 11/16 x 37 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 2003.225

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Location

212 Baroque Painting and Sculpture

Did You Know?

While the color pink has feminine associations now, it was commonly worn by girls and boys alike in the 1600s.

Description

Although ten-year-old Louis XIII was king of France, his mother Marie de’ Medici remained in power until the boy officially came of age. Pourbus inscribed the sitter’s age and the painting’s year in the composition: “The holy year 1611 at his age of 10 years.” Marie de’ Medici commissioned this work as she negotiated marriages for her two children to Philip III of Spain and Mary Marguerite of Austria, alliances that led to the European domination of the next two centuries by the Bourbon and Habsburg families.