(King John at the) Battle of Poitiers

Delacroix's Battle of Poitiers (King John at the Battle of Poitiers) of 1830 depicts the 1356 English defeat of the French at Poitiers, in which Edward the Black Prince captured the French King John II. Commissioned for Versailles, the subject represented a French military catastrophe, which made the commission politically sensitive — the July Monarchy's historical gallery needed to accommodate France's military defeats alongside her victories. Delacroix rendered the battle's confusion with characteristic energy, the medieval armor and the desperate cavalry mêlée providing material for his turbulent compositional approach.

Delacroix renders the chaotic medieval battle with characteristic energy, using a palette of steel blues and warm earth tones. The violent entanglement of horses and armored knights conveys the brutal close-quarters combat of medieval warfare.