1520 The Field of Cloth of Gold, the meeting of Henry VIII and Francis I - Bilingual exhibition cataligue

The meeting of Francis I and Henry VIII between Guînes and Ardres from 7 to 24 June 1520 was above all a festival – of youth, of knightly ideals, of sensual pleasures and of insouciance.

This lavishly illustrated book invites readers to enter this world of political illusion and cultural rivalries, permeated by Italian influences and where the first signs of the French Renaissance emerge. It brings an understanding of the European context that gave rise to this highly novel encounter, allows one to relive the feasts, jousting and masquerades of the Field of Cloth of Gold, and follow the ups and downs of this impossible peace. It also reveals the fortunes of this event in the history-passionate 19th century, which revisited this somptuous extravaganza on stage and in books.