Italy-Spain

Italy-Spain

At the far end of the Grande Galerie, I suddenly felt disoriented (Denon, room 718). I had passed through the Galerie in memory of my childhood visits, and I expected to come to the Salle Rubens and its monumental Marie de’ Medici cycle. In primary school, the list of French monarchs had taught us the basics of chronology. Though largely mythical, Rubens’ paintings lent truth to our history class by majestically illustrating our lessons: Henri IV receiving the queen’s portrait, the assassination of Henry IV, the birth of Louis XIII, the proclamation of the Régence, the coronation of the queen, the exchange of the princesses… It all seemed so immutable that one would have thought the paintings were made in this very room, and not for the Palais du Luxembourg. But the décor was an illusion. I now came upon a room divided in two—Italy on one side, Spain on the other—and the Rubens paintings had moved out. I’ll see them again another time at the other end of the museum (Richelieu, room 801). “Paris changes, but nothing of my melancholy has stirred!”