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scepter along with two angels accompany the event, which takes place in an elaborate
architectural setting. The painting is an extensive departure from the actual story, in which Louis
IX bought the relic in 1239 from Emperor Baldwin II. On one level, the image reiterates the
king’s acquisition of the most holy relics of Christendom, marking the French kingdom’s
privileged status among all other nations. On a much more elevated level, it forcefully states the
divine right of French kings. Showing Christ handing the crown to the monarch asserts Louis’s
divine-like status, reinforcing the close connection between church and state in France.
In a similar manner The Death of St. Louis exhibits an idealized portrayal of the actual
event, which occurred in 1270 in Tunis while the king was on his second crusade (fig. 53). 120
Louis IX, placed on the floor, covered with the royal mantel, and surrounded by courtiers, gazes
upwards to the priest bestowing the last rites. A dramatic cloth of honor hangs behind the group
huddled around the king while on the left acolytes bearing liturgical instruments patiently wait in
a classically-styled interior. The one painting no longer in existence is St. Louis Leaving for the
Crusade and Leaving the Country to his Mother. While no record of the image exists, the artistic
license taken in the other two scenes suggests a similar approach for this work. It depicted the
king’s departure in 1248 on his first crusade, an event which by all accounts ended in disaster.
Given the heroic nature of the other paintings, this one most-assuredly presented the king as a
confident statesman, who would lead his followers to military victory.
The remaining image, Louis XIII offering the Model of the Church to St. Louis, featuring
a scene not taken from the saint’s life, further defines the divine-like status of French kings by
introducing a portrait of Louis XIII into the series (fig. 54). Prominently placed on the transept
wall to the right of the high altar, it depicts the seventeenth-century king aided by angels lifting a
large scale and accurate model of the Society of Jesus’s church to St. Louis, who reaches out to
receive it. Behind Louis XIII, three Jesuit fathers kneel in reverence while several laypeople
witness the event. The scene takes place in an architecturally defined setting, which with the
suggestion of piers and arcades recalls the interior features of Saint-Louis-des-Jésuites.
Drawing from a long tradition of paintings showing donors presenting a model of a
church to a holy figure, it exhibits several of the functions associated with this type of art. 121 In
addition to serving as an expression of thanks for royal support, it also perpetuates the memory
of the patron. Most importantly, the painting functions as a statement of Louis XIII’s authority
and power. Representations of a ruler or other secular power donating a church model to a holy
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