Portrait of King Louis XIII of France

Also known as: Louis XIII (1601-1643) as a Child

About the Artwork

Although ten-year-old Louis XIII was king of France, his mother Marie de’ Medici remained in power until the boy officially came of age. Pourbus inscribed the sitter’s age and the painting’s year in the composition: “The holy year 1611 at his age of 10 years.” Marie de’ Medici commissioned this work as she negotiated marriages for her two children to Philip III of Spain and Mary Marguerite of Austria, alliances that led to the European domination of the next two centuries by the Bourbon and Habsburg families.

Inscriptions

Signed with the monogram lower right: F.P. FACIEBAT. Inscribed middle right: AN° SAL. 1611. AETA'. SVAE. A°. 10. Inscribed with inventory number lower left 783. Inscribed on the reverse, on a hand written label: brought back from Rome by J. W. Brigstocke of Carmarthen.

Provenance

1610: Marie de Medici Philippe III of Spain W. J. Brigstocke of Carmarten Josiah Wedgwood III (1795-1880) of Leith Hill Place, Surrey Margaret Wedgwood (1843-1937), wife of Rev. Arthur Charles Vaughan-Williams (1834-1875) Vaughan-Williams family of Tanhurst House, Leith Hill, Surrey 2002: Mark Weiss Commissioned in 1610 by Marie de Medici Philippe III of Spain W. J. Brigstocke of Carmarten Josiah Wedgwood III (1795-1880) of Leith Hill Place, Surrey By inheritance to Margaret Wedgwood (1843-1937), wife of Rev. Arthur Charles Vaughan-Williams (1834-1875) By inheritanace to the Vaughan-Williams family of Tanhurst House, Leith Hill, Surrey Acquired at the hotel Drouot in 2002 by Mark Weiss The Weiss Gallery, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003.

Exhibition history

Artlens Exhibition 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24, 2017-May 29, 2019).

Quick Overview

Artist: Frans Pourbus (Flemish, 1569–1622)
Date: 1611
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Framed: 186.7 x 122.4 x 6.3 cm (73 1/2 x 48 3/16 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 159.3 x 95.3 cm (62 11/16 x 37 1/2 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Accession no.: 2003.225

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.