Henry II of England (1133-1189) and Rosemonde Clifford (1150-1176)

Monvoisin's brilliant career, which took him as far as Chile, was one of the most romantic of his time. Initially trained by Bondeaux, he entered Guérin's studio in 1816, at the age of 26, to compete for the Prix de Rome, which he won in 1821. Following in the footsteps of his fellow student Léon Cogniet, on his return from Italy in 1825, his entries at the Salon placed him squarely in the Romantic camp. Rosemonde was one of the most acclaimed paintings at the 1827 Salon. Rosemonde Clifford's beauty had made her the favorite mistress of King Henry II, who, to shield her from the fury of his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, secretly met her in the Woodstock palace, enlarged to house their love affairs. Monvoisin chose the moment when the queen surprised the two lovers. Legend has it that she returned that evening to kill her rival, leaving her the choice of poison or dagger. In reality, Eleanor was imprisoned by her husband in 1173, two years before Rosemonde's death. Monvoisin uses the composition generally adopted for a similar subject in Dante's Inferno, Paolo and Francesca. However, it was at the Comédie-Française that he drew inspiration for his subject, where the tragedy Rosemonde de Bonnechose premiered in 1826, starring Lucide Paradol and Mlle Bourgoin in the roles of Aliénor and Rosemonde. The revival of the Romantic scene nourished his work, both here and in later paintings such as La Mort de Charles IX (1834, Montpellier, Musée Fabre), providing keys to historical truth. Restoration of the painting revealed a skilful construction of the composition. True to his academic training, Monvoisin drew the architecture in its entirety before dressing it with fabrics, carpets and objects to give it local color. Eleanor, originally intended to be on the right, was finally moved to the left to create a more dramatic effect.