Valentine of Milan Mourning her Husband, the Duke of Orléans

François Fleury-Richard's Valentine of Milan Mourning her Husband, the Duke of Orléans (1802) depicts Valentine Visconti, the Italian-born wife of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, who was assassinated by Burgundian agents in 1407 and whose grieving widow became one of the most celebrated figures of medieval dynastic tragedy. Valentine died the following year, reportedly of grief. The subject suited the Troubadour Style's interest in medieval royal melancholy, and the setting — a castle room with all the furnishings of late medieval court life — gave Fleury-Richard full scope for his gift for period detail. The painting is now in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Fleury-Richard uses the dimly lit castle interior to create an atmosphere of sustained mourning appropriate to the subject, with warm candlelight picking out the widow's pale figure against rich medieval furnishings. The period textiles, furniture, and architecture are rendered with the archaeological care that was his hallmark, and Valentine's still, absorbed posture conveys grief without theatrical display.