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the reasons for the queen’s shift in approach to adorning the churches, which I seek to resolve by<br />

examining the primary goals <strong>of</strong> the regency <strong>and</strong> those during the years in which she served on<br />

the king’s council.<br />

The Regent Queen’s Support <strong>of</strong> Churches, from 1610 to 1617<br />

From 1610 to 1617, the period during which Maria de’ Medici reigned as regent for her<br />

son Louis XIII, the queen supported the construction <strong>of</strong> five churches for Parisian religious<br />

communities. This period also marked the beginning <strong>of</strong> her patronage <strong>of</strong> the Carmelite Convent<br />

<strong>of</strong> the faubourg Saint-Jacques, for which the queen would eventually commission a series <strong>of</strong><br />

paintings by Philippe de Champaigne for the existing church. 7 French churches receiving royal<br />

support traditionally bore imagery in the form <strong>of</strong> royal arms, monograms, crowns, fleurs-de-lis,<br />

or other appropriate symbols, providing testimony <strong>of</strong> their illustrious patrons. Prior to the<br />

regency, this practice had occurred most recently at the church <strong>of</strong> the Hôpital St. Louis, begun in<br />

1607 at the behest <strong>of</strong> Henri IV <strong>and</strong> which included on its façade the royal arms, statues <strong>of</strong> the<br />

king <strong>and</strong> queen, <strong>and</strong> an inscribed marble tablet honoring the reigning monarch (fig. 57). 8 Yet for<br />

those churches supported by Maria de’ Medici in the years immediately following the death <strong>of</strong><br />

the king, <strong>visual</strong> <strong>and</strong> textual sources provide no indication that these buildings had any similar<br />

decoration. I propose that the dramatic shift away from royal tradition arose from the queen’s<br />

need to assert her right to rule as regent <strong>and</strong> her desire to promote the Catholic faith, factors that<br />

led her to prohibit the use <strong>of</strong> <strong>state</strong> imagery on the churches.<br />

Except for the chapel <strong>of</strong> the French Oratorians, discussed in chapter three, this section<br />

will examine the churches supported by Maria de’ Medici during the regency. For each church I<br />

will present its building history, focus on its <strong>state</strong> during the early seventeenth century, <strong>and</strong><br />

establish the manner in which the queen provided aid. I will also consider the motives for the<br />

royal assistance. By examining the challenges <strong>of</strong> the regency <strong>and</strong> the objectives pursued by<br />

Maria de’ Medici during this period, I will address the reasons behind the range <strong>of</strong> churches the<br />

queen supported <strong>and</strong> why they lacked <strong>visual</strong> references to royal patronage.<br />

The Minims <strong>of</strong> the Place Royale<br />

The Order <strong>of</strong> the Minims, founded in Calabria in 1453 by St. Francis <strong>of</strong> Paula, was first<br />

established in France in 1482. The fathers arrived in the kingdom at the request <strong>of</strong> the ailing<br />

125

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