Jean le Bon à Poitiers

This illustration depicts John the Good at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, one of the most significant episodes of the Hundred Years’ War. King John II appears here at the heart of the fighting, in a dramatic scene that emphasizes the violence of the clash and the chivalric ideal associated with the French monarchy of the fourteenth century. The Battle of Poitiers ended in a major French defeat against the forces of the Black Prince and in the capture of the king, an event that triggered a profound political and financial crisis within the kingdom. Produced long after the events, this image belongs to the nineteenth-century illustrated tradition, which reimagined the great scenes of French history in a heroic and narrative visual language.