Louvre Museum Announces Major Four-Year Restoration of Rubens' Medici Cycle Paintings

The Louvre Museum in Paris has announced a comprehensive restoration project for Peter Paul Rubens's Marie de' Medici cycle, which will begin this fall and last four years. The museum described this initiative as the most ambitious restoration ever undertaken by its Department of Paintings. The cycle consists of 24 large-scale canvases commissioned in 1621 by Marie de' Medici, queen consort to France's Henry IV, that depict her life through Baroque artistic conventions. These works currently hang together in the Galérie Medicis, covering approximately 3,100 square feet of painted surface. Museum officials stated the paintings are in an unsatisfactory condition for public viewing, with yellowed varnishes and visible, discordant retouching from previous conservation efforts. A 2016 analysis prompted further investigation, and by 2020, Louvre experts expressed serious concerns about the artworks' state. The gallery will be transformed into a restoration studio where specialists will work on the paintings. Funding includes a $4.64 million contribution from the Society of Friends of the Louvre, though the total project cost remains undisclosed. Three curators are leading the project: Sébastien Allard, director of the paintings department; Blaise Ducos, chief curator for 17th- and 18th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings; and Oriane Lavit, curator for 16th-century French, Flemish, and Dutch paintings. While less globally recognized than some Louvre masterpieces, these works represent significant achievements from Rubens's career and important examples of Baroque narrative painting.