The State Barge of Cardinal Richelieu on the Rhone

This history painting by Paul Delaroche, dated 1829, shows the state barge of Cardinal Richelieu moving along the Rhône in southern France. Following behind is another boat carrying two conspirators who had failed in their plot, Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, and François Auguste de Thou, on their way to execution. The episode is set in 1642, during the reign of Louis XIII, and draws on the story told in Alfred de Vigny's 1826 novel Cinq-Mars, which helped make it widely known. The drama lies in the contrast between the orderly, solemn procession of the powerful minister and the fate awaiting the two condemned men. Delaroche, known for narrative scenes of this kind, exhibited the work at the Salon of 1831 in Paris. It is now in the Wallace Collection in London, having been acquired by the Marquess of Hertford.

Painter

Paul Delaroche

Date

1829

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

57 × 97 cm

Museum

Wallace Collection, London

Genre

history painting

Depicts

Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu, François Auguste de Thou, Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars

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