The Battle of Marignano, 14 September 1515

This monumental history painting, executed by Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard and exhibited at the Salon of 1836 before joining the historical galleries of the Palace of Versailles, depicts Francis I at the heart of the Battle of Marignano, fought on 13 and 14 September 1515 against the Swiss mercenaries defending Milan. The king is shown personally charging at the head of his cavalry, amid the turmoil of a clash that ranked among the bloodiest of its time and confirmed the superiority of French artillery over the Swiss infantry, until then considered invincible. Commissioned to adorn the Historical Galleries created under Louis-Philippe, the work forms part of the vast programme celebrating French national history undertaken at Versailles in the nineteenth century, in which the great military victories of the past were reinterpreted with the heroic spirit inherited from Romanticism.