Border at Bottom Center: Portrait of Gaston of France in an Ornamental Border, from a group of sixteen plates originally mounted as a single sheet, entitled Siège de La Rochelle (The Seige of La Rochelle) 1628 - 1631

This print of Gaston d’Orleans by Abraham Bosse was originally part of a larger sheet commemorating the Siege of La Rochelle, likely made shortly after the event in 1628. The ornamental border combines the visual language of military conquest with dynastic power. Flags, drums, spears, and armor are all carefully rendered, but subservient to the crowned portrait of Louis XIII’s younger brother, Gaston. The border, then, contains and elevates the figure of the prince. Bosse worked as an engraver in Paris, at a time when the French monarchy was consolidating its power under Louis XIII and his advisors. Prints like these were functional objects, and images of the royal family served as propaganda. To understand this image more fully, one would need to investigate the history of printmaking in France, the biographies of Bosse and Gaston, and the history of the Siege of La Rochelle. Each of those research paths would illuminate the complex social and institutional contexts in which this print was made and circulated.