“Kings, Queens, and Courtiers: Royalty on Paper” features examples of the various ways in which European rulers and their aristocratic followers have been represented on paper from the sixteenth century to 1900. In several instances (as with Emperor Maximilian I of Austria, Henri II and Louis XIV of France, and Elizabeth I and Victoria of England, for example), the exhibition includes different interpretations of the same subject. Representations of lavish court entertainments and one or two critical caricatures have also been included. The majority of these images are skillful propaganda intended to convey the splendor, power, and virtues of the various monarchs. The exhibition serves as a complement to and provides a broader historical context for “Mario Testino: British Royal Portraits” on view concurrently in the Ritts Gallery.

Visit the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) website to see a detailed family tree tracing Maximilian I’s relationships by birth and marriage to the royal houses of Europe with references to images in the exhibition and family connections among the royals.

Above: Albrecht Dürer, Triumphal Chariot of Maximilian I (detail), dated 1522, begun 1518.