King Francis I and His Court
In this illustration from a 1534 manuscript, the king of France is shown with his three sons listening to the reading of a translated ancient text. The translator, Antoine Macault, was the king’s secretary and is shown wearing the black of officials. Renaissance kings took pride in sponsoring revivals of classical texts (in this case Diodorus of Sicily, a Greek historian from the first century B.C.E.). (Musée Condé, Chantilly, France / Giraudon / Bridgeman Images.)