Chevalier inscrit dans une enluminure 

Eugène Grasset produced this illuminated image of a knight in France, during the late 19th century. The aesthetics of illuminated manuscripts from the medieval era, with their elaborate borders and decorative lettering, are here revived to create a fantastical image of chivalry. The image is replete with references to courtly love, such as the medieval knight, the damsel in the tower, the heraldry, and the floral motifs which surround them. France, at this time, was preoccupied by the relationship between its present and its past, and the artistic avant-garde were particularly concerned with interrogating what 'Frenchness' truly meant. Many artists looked to the art of the medieval era, an epoch that could provide a sense of national identity. Art historians can examine this image in relation to the broader revival of medieval aesthetics in late 19th-century French art and design, looking to museum collections of illuminated manuscripts, as well as the writings of art critics, to better understand its cultural significance.