The painter also had created the costumes for a play by Alexandre Dumas called Henry III and His Court, performed in 1829.

Ludovic Vitet, a friend of Delaroche, also wrote a play (never performed) which devotes a scene to the subject of the painting.

[1][2] The scene represents the moment when Henry III, then hidden behind a curtain, appears to witness the death of the Duke of Guise, who is being greeted by the eight members of his personal guard, called the Forty-Five, who committed the crime.

The entire right part of the painting is occupied by the body of the murdered duke, which lies in the ground, stained with blood.

[2] The early French silent film The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1897) is believed by some to have been directly inspired by this painting.