Resumen de Custos Montium. A Prophecy on the Election of Alexander VII in Jean Lepautre's Depiction of the Chapel of Notre Dame de la Paix in the Louvre

Maarten Delbeke

• This essay examines the political-religious use of Marian iconography during the pontificate of Alexander VII Chigi. Examination of French engraver Jean Lepautre's engravings of St. Michael and Louis XIV offering his vow to the Virgin in the chapel of Notre Dame de la Paix (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris) shows that Étienne Du Pont—the chaplain of the Parisian chapel depicted in the latter work and the patron of both works—weaved together imagery associated with both the king and the pope to proclaim their common cause of furthering European peace. Du Pont's casting of this Marian shrine as the symbol of a joined royal and papal program represented the first step of a strategy that later recurred during Alexander VII's pontificate in different parts of Europe. This strategy consisted of inserting the same topoi, in particular psalm 86 and the prophecy of Malachy, into the existing imagery of different sanctuaries in order to advocate the pope's reputation and zeal.