Palais du Luxembourg

To What extent do the architecture and the decoration of the Palais du Luxembourg help us to understand the role of royal courts in the early seventeenth century France?

The Palais du Luxembourg was designed in the early 17th century for Queen Marie de medias; she was the Florentine wife of Henry VI. The palace remained in royal hands until 1789 when the Revolution started it then became a prison. Today it houses the French senate.
Architecture in palaces in the 17th century was there to make a statement about their intentions. It also was to been seen as a symbol as absolute monarchy. Monarchs were to "maintain a suitably magnificent elevated estate."(Traditional society and the civil wars, unit 2 pg44)
Drewer the architecture also became famous for his designs of the Petite Palace in Florence, where Marie was brought up, that is why there is an Italian feel to the palace, although it is in Paris.
Decorations, embellishments and Rubens paintings adorn the walls of the large gal...