Plate 5a: Marie de Medici as Berecynthia, from Caspar Barlaeus, "Medicea Hospes"
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 11 5/8 × 15 1/4 in. (29.6 × 38.7 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ornament & Architecture|Prints-Fete
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.6158(2)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the grandeur of 17th-century with *Plate 5a: Marie de Medici as Berec*, an etching from Caspar Barlaeus's publication *Medicea Hosp* (1638). This celebratory print portrays the exiled French queen Marie de Medici, mother of Louis XIII, transformed into the mythological Berecynthia—another name for Cybele, ancient mother goddess of fertility and abundance. Surrounded by men, women, chariots and majestic lions, she rides in triumphant splendor, symbolizing her regal power and the hospitality she received during her 1638 visit to Amsterdam. Created through a stellar collaboration—desig...
About the Artist
Joan and Cornelius Blaeu|Caspar Barlaeus|Claes Moeyaert|Pieter Nolpe (Dutch|Netherlandish|Dutch|Dutch) · 1591 | |1613 | –1655 | |1614 |
Dutch, Amsterdam 1591–1655 Amsterdam| |Dutch, 1613/1614–1652/1653|Dutch