Jean II de France et son fils Philippe à la bataille de Poitiers

This illustration depicts John II of France, known as John the Good, and his son Philip during the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, one of the most dramatic episodes of the Hundred Years’ War. At the center of the composition, the king and the young prince stand pressed close together in the middle of the melee, surrounded by fighters, lances, and bodies lying on the ground. The image emphasizes the intensity of close combat and the heroic yet tragic dimension of royal resistance at the moment when the French army is collapsing. The presence of the son beside the king reinforces the idea of dynastic loyalty and familial bravery in the face of disaster. Produced centuries after the event, this scene is not a contemporary witness but a nineteenth-century historical reconstruction, meant to give spectacular form to one of the great military traumas of John the Good’s reign.