The Arrival of Marie de Medici at Marseilles is one of 24 canvases that comprise the Medici Cycle, commissioned for the home of Marie de Medici, the Palais du Luxembourg (which now houses the French Senate and which she called the Palais Medici). The cycle loosely depicts the life of Marie de Medici. Marie was the granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and the Archduchess of Austria. She married Henri IV, the King of France. In 1610, the day before the King was assassinated, she took the throne as Queen of France. She ruled as regent until her son, Louis XIII, took power.

Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker provide a description, historical perspective, and analysis of Peter Paul Rubens’s Arrival (or Disembarkation) of Marie de Medici at Marseilles.

Peter Paul Rubens, Arrival (or Disembarkation) of Marie de Medici at Marseilles, 1621–25, oil on canvas, 394 × 295 cm, (Musée du Louvre, Paris).