The Excommunication of Robert the Pious

[4] It was one of a series of historical paintings by Laurens that depicted various parts of the narrative of Robert the Pious.

The painting depicts the moment after the excommunication of Robert II by Pope Gregory V for refusing to repudiate his second wife, Berthe.

As the representatives of the papacy leave the throne room, Robert and Bertha stare into space, in the grip of their dilemma.

The austere decor of the room offers little to distract the viewer from the faces of the two protagonists as they stare with foreboding at the smoking candle before them.

[8] Jules Claretie described it as exactly like a theatrical scene, and the work as not so much a painting as a moment before the curtain falls.