Louis XIII., King of France

Louis XIII. was already King of France when the portrait was painted. For a long time, the young lady on the portrait’s counterpart was thought to be Louis’ wife Anna, the eldest daughter of the Spanish king. Today, it is thought more likely that the portrait depicts Louis’ sister Elizabeth, who married Anna’s brother Philip IV. in 1615. The two young people, both bearing the insignia of their power, shared the same fate: they were instruments for exercising power and typical of the marriage politics of that age.