Assassination of Louis of Orléans

This illustration by Paul Lehugeur, titled “Assassination of Louis of Orléans,” depicts the murder of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, in 1407 in a street in Paris. The scene shows the prince suddenly attacked by armed men, in a violent and tightly framed composition that emphasizes the brutality of the ambush. Ordered by John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, this episode marked a major turning point in the reign of Charles VI and opened a phase of civil war between Armagnacs and Burgundians. Created in the nineteenth century, the image belongs to the tradition of French historical illustration, which sought to give dramatic form to major political episodes of the national past.