Abstract
This essay examines Rubens’s Maria de’ Medici cycle (1622-25) in relation to the epic conception of L’Adone (1623) as a “poëme de paix,” in Chapelain’s term. These two unorthodox epics, one in verse and the other in painting, both presenting a female protagonist in peaceful pursuits, were contemporaneously conceived by the two towering geniuses serving Maria de’ Medici. They were certainly knowledgeable of each other’s works, especially since Marino’s La Galeria (1619) commemorates two of Rubens’ paintings. While the political imagery of L’Adone may postdate Rubens’ conception for the cycle, his earlier panegyric Il Tempio (1615) provides a rich mine of motifs, presented as ekphrases, for Rubens’ pictorial re-invention.