Battle of Nancy (1477)

This history painting by **Eugène Delacroix**, completed in **1831**, depicts the **Battle of Nancy** of **5 January 1477**, in which the forces of **René II of Lorraine** and their allies crushed those of **Charles the Bold**. The work is not a contemporary record but a large Romantic reconstruction of the episode that brought the duke of Burgundy’s personal power to an end. Through its violent movement, charging horsemen, and dramatic colour, it turns the battle into a decisive rupture in the political history of the late Middle Ages. In the context of **Louis XI’s** reign, the scene illuminates the military outcome of a struggle from which the king, though not personally commanding the field, drew immediate diplomatic and territorial advantage.