Treaty of Conflans between Charles the Bold and Louis XI in 1465

This hand-colored engraving, titled “Treaty of Conflans between Charles the Bold and Louis XI in 1465,” depicts the diplomatic meeting of 1465 that temporarily brought the League of the Public Weal to an end. The scene shows Louis XI and Charles of Charolais, the future Charles the Bold, surrounded by their military and political entourage in a camp setting that emphasizes both the tension of the negotiations and their political significance. The image gives visual form to a major episode of the early reign of Louis XI, marked by conflict between the monarchy and a high nobility determined to preserve its privileges. Produced in the late nineteenth century for Histoire de France en cent tableaux, the illustration belongs to the tradition of French historical imagery, which sought to dramatize and clarify major episodes of the national past.