Cardinal Giulio MAZZARINO, the 17th-century Italian cardinal and chief minister at the court of Louis XIII and XIV, achieved major diplomatic victories for France and left a considerable mark on the arts and literature in Paris. MAZZARINO brought Italian opera to Paris, amassed a significant collection of art--now housed in the Louvre--and founded both The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture and the first public library in France. A man of great taste, MAZZARINO commemorates the Cardinal’s love of art with a jubilant scene full of opulent floral urns and festoons and flowing ribbons and canopies.