Procession of the Feast of Corpus Christi outside the Palais Royal, Paris, 12 June 1648
Île-de-France, Paris, 1648
336 x 478 mm
Crowds descend upon the Palais Royal for the Feast of Corpus Christi. The elaborately decorated pavilion and altar are flanked by huge tapestries of the apostles. The dowager Queen Anne and nine-year-old Louis XIV follow the procession. This spectacular celebration combined the ceremony of the Catholic Church with the opulence and splendour of the French Court. Della Bella was an inexhaustible artist, producing thousands of prints and drawings of the countryside, everyday life, buildings and public events. Originally from Florence, he moved to Paris in 1639.
Purchased 1955 (No. 55.6)