Cardinal de Richelieu's discovery of purple: Political and emblematic antecedents of a topos

Abstract

The article studies an iconographic topos, ‘discovery of purple', mostly known through Rubens's sketch for the Torre de la Parada. However, its development can be traced not only through pictorial tradition, but also through emblems and mottos, which were very popular in the 16th-17th centuries. In particular, the ‘discovery of purple' is present in the mottos that Jean-François de Boissière created for Richelieu in 1622, to celebrate the latter's ascension to the cardinalate. Unexpectedly, the new cardinal is compared to Hercules' dog, who found a murex on the seashore. This comparison has a number of political implications: some of them are associated with the patronage of the Queen Mother (who probably recalled Santi di Tito's interpretation of ‘discovery of purple' and suggested this story to Richelieu), while others reflect Richelieu's attempt to earn Louis XIII' s trust, symbolically indicating absolute dedication to his interests. Boissière's motto provides an opportunity to trace the gradual transformation of the topos, from the original model which was formed in Italy in the 16th century and which celebrated female rulership, to the 1630s, when Richelieu creates at Palais-Royal the Galerie des Hommes Illustres, where the cardinal' purple assumes a different symbolic and political meaning. During the same decade the topos of ‘the discovery of purple' was used by two Dutch artists, Theodor van Lohn and Rubens, and in both cases it served to glorify the Spanish crown.