The French Henri-Paul Motte (1846-1922) was a student of the famous Gérôme and became a very experienced history painter, whose paintings were frequently as illustrations in books and magazines.
Here he depicts the great Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle the last Huguenot stronghold in France. To block the seaward access to the city Richelieu ordered a long fortified seawall to be build.Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle (1881)