Entrée d'Henri IV à Paris, 22 mars 1594

François Gérard's Entrée d'Henri IV à Paris of 1817, depicting the Bourbon king's 1594 entry into his capital after the conversion from Protestantism that purchased the city's submission, was a politically charged commission during the Restoration. Henri IV was the ancestor Bourbon royalists most valued — the pragmatic, affable king who had reunited France after the Wars of Religion — and his memory was cultivated by both the restored dynasty and its liberal critics. Gérard's ceremonial entry scene presented the returning Bourbon mythology through a historically specific and relatively uncontroversial ancestor.

Gérard stages the triumphal entry with precise historical detail in a monumental format suitable for the Versailles galleries. The processional composition and warm, festive palette convey the relief and joy of the Parisians welcoming their new king.