Jean Nocret, Allegory of Louis XIV ‘s marriage to Marie Thérèse of Austria, 1660-1664, Musée Basque, Bayonne

Travelling to Bayonne, in the Basque country,  is  a fun experience especially when you are welcomed by Olivier Ribbon, curator of Musée Basque et de l’histoire de Bayonne, who devised a brilliant exhibition around Louis XIV’s marriage in St Jean de Luz, in 1660.

Bayonne’s cathedral, seen from the cloister, shows how powerful this harbor town was in the 17 th century

St Jean de Luz is the nearest town to Spain, where his first cousin and wife to be,  the Infante Marie Thérèse d’Autriche, lived.  The King and his court spent a year waiting for the marriage to take place, for peace had to be signed between Spain and France (after twenty four years of war), before any alliance could be celebrated. There is a hot chocolate silver server in the show, which was given to the family who hosted Louis XIV in their house. The painter Diego Velazquez was in charge of organizing and decorating the ceremonies and died a few months later from exhaustion. His portraits were especially important in the engagement process between the two first cousins. A large tapestry representing the meeting between the two kings did not come from the French Embassy in Madrid at the last minute. What a disappointment!

Jules Michel Gué, Anne d’Autriche and Philippe IV d’Espagne arrive in l’Ile aux Faisans, 2 juin 1660, 1837, Château de Versailles

On Nov 1659, Cardinal Mazarin and Don Luis de Haro signed the peace of the Pyrénées on Ile aux Faisans, a tiny little island on the Bidassoa, the border river, where Louis XIV and Marie Thérèse (both 21 at the time) would soon be married. Part of the tent was decorated by Charles Le Brun, the other half by Diego Velazquez. Philippe IV was the brother of Louis XIVth’s mother and his first wife, Isabelle de Bourbon was Louis XIII’s sister, the king’s direct aunt. Philippe IV and Anne were reunited on the island after not having seen each other for 45 years ! This wedding was political of course but the family had a large part in it.

Charles and Henri Beaubrun, Marie Thérèse d’Autriche and her son, 1664, Museo del Prado

Attr. to Antoine Masson, Le Maréchal de Turenne, 1660, Musée des Beaux Arts de Chartres

Through medals, portraits and drapes, ecclesiastical clothes and many engravings,  this exhibition explains in a very lively way, how complicated the organisation of the wedding had been and how important politically it was for Spain.

To keep in touch, instead of sending Instagram messages, kings and queens were sending each other portraits of the royal families and this is how we have so many of them in the show, by major or little known artists such as Jacob Ferdinand Voët, Charles and Henri Beaubrun and Pierre Mignard.

Olivier Ribeton curated this very special exhibition on Louis XIVth’ marriage for Musée Basque

The Prado museum lent many paintings as did the Louvre and Versailles and Musée Basque showed eight portraits of the Gramont collection. The arrival of Anne d’Autriche and her brother Philippe IV on the Ile des Faisans by Jules-Michel Gué is as fascinating in its details as a movie and Jean Nocret’s Allegory of the marriage is another beauty. It was acquired thirty years ago from Didier Aaron gallery,  by Olivier Ribeton, for the Historical Museum of Bayonne.

Two paintings by Jacques Laumosnier came from Le Mans, « The meeting between Philippe IV and Louis XIV » and the marriage in St Jean de Luz. They were painted in 1720 but give a precise account of who was there and not, including the

Jacques Laumosnier, Meeting between Louis XIV and Philippe IV at Ile de la Conférence, 6 and 7 June 1660

Charles et Henri Beaubrun, Duchesse de Gramont and her son Antoine Charles, 1646

three main military heroes who accompanied this royal wedding:  Prince de Conti, Maréchal de Gramont and Maréchal de Turenne, who are present in many paintings.

Far from being dry or tedious, this exhibition on a single theme, is so wonderfully curated that it tells the story like a comic book. The quality of these 17 th century portraits is always surprising and the Musée Basque can be proud of having hosted such an important show.

Bayonne is a harbor with two rivers, La Nive and and l’Adour

I encourage you to rush before it closes on September 25. Bayonne is 80 mins from Paris by flight, two hours from Bordeaux and Bilbao. The show is interesting for another reason: it was cosponsored by San Sebastian, another basque town in Spain and it shows how  Spanish and French Navarre have survived borders and wars as a single region. (until September 25)

A nice drink at Hotel du Palais in Biarritz, concluded the visit in luxury and beauty