In the field of the arts, the patronage of the Barberini cardinals was much diminished after their exile to France; their commissions, even if bestowed on the same artists as before, became rare. Nonetheless, certain enterprises of Cardinal Antonio Barberini (nephew of Urban VIII) reveal an ambition which, when linked to France, took on new forms. Thus, the decoration of the ceiling of the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, which he entrusted to Andrea Sacchi, was intended to glorify the French royal dynasty; but the project ended up by being abandoned. In a text dedicated to Antonio (1666), the Jesuit Pierre Le Moyne deplored this failure, which he coupled with another abortive venture of the cardinal: the commission given to some of the main Roman painters — Romanelli, Courtois, Sacchi, Maratti — to illustrate the Saint Louys, the great epic poem written by Le Moyne himself in which the Barberini are celebrated. The identification of many drawings and prints relating to this enterprise gives an idea of just how sumptuous it was supposed to be. Other cases confirm that Antonio, during his exile in France, did not renounce his role as a player on the Roman artistic scene, or as a patron: his commissions include the triumphal stage set designed by Bernini and Schor for the Trinità dei Monti to celebrate the birth of the Dauphin of France (1662); the busts of Louis XIV and Cardinal Mazarin commissioned from Bernini (in c.1658, without result); engravings by Philippon (in memory of Urban VIII), of Lepautre (allegory of the Barberini bees), etc. Maratti’s portrait of Antonio in 1670 insists on his connections with the kingdom of France, and a letter of Colbert reveals how Barberini fancied himself as successor of Mazarin. But this hope of the cardinal was to be dashed.