Twee personen in een interieur, mogelijk Maria de Medici en kardinaal de Richelieu 1833 - 1890

Johan Coenraad Leich made this watercolor of two figures in an interior sometime in the mid-19th century. The title suggests that they may be Maria de Medici and Cardinal Richelieu. Leich worked in the Netherlands at a time when the Dutch were eager to build a national artistic identity. History painting became very popular, as artists sought to connect the present to a glorious past. But this also played into contemporary political debates. In this work we see a domestic scene between a powerful statesman and a member of the royalty. The interior setting of the image reminds us of the importance of class in the reconstruction of national histories. To better understand images like this, we can ask: what kind of cultural work is this image meant to do? How does it address the social, political and cultural issues of its time? What choices did the artist make, and what resources—institutional or material—were available to him?