États généraux of 1356

This illustration by Charles-Joseph Mettais, titled “Estates General of 1356,” depicts a session of the Estates General convened in 1356 during the deep crisis affecting the kingdom of France in the Hundred Years’ War. The composition shows a large and orderly assembly gathered around a central speaker, facing representatives of the different estates and authorities seated above, emphasizing the solemn and political character of the meeting. The image refers to the moment when, after the capture of King John II at the Battle of Poitiers, the Estates General sought to play a greater role in governing the kingdom and reforming the government. Created around 1860 and published in Paul Lehugeur’s Histoire de France en cent tableaux, this engraving belongs to the nineteenth-century tradition of historical illustration, which aimed to give clear and memorial visual form to the major institutional episodes of the French past.