Allegory of the Peace of Crèpy, 1544

From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record

Forceful and brilliant in its draftsmanship, this allegorical etching does more than suggest that the Treaty of Crèpy, favored one side over the other. The double-headed Imperial Eagle bears the arms of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V as it squeezes the Gallic Cock. The treaty, signed in 1544 by representatives of Charles and France's King Francis I, was meant to bring peace between these rivals who had been engaged in the so-called Italian Wars. They were to divy up disputed territory and to arrange a marriage that would bind the royal families together. The terms would also force Frances to turn against his ally Suleiman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire. In the end, the treaty was moot, because Francis's son died, preventing the intermarriage. Flanders, Europe