The duchess Mary of Burgundy, shown in gleaming silk at the composition’s center, changed Belgian history when she bestowed the Great Privilege in 1477. This agreement granted substantial political independence to several regions within the larger Burgundian State, reestablishing local and communal rights. Though Émile-Charles Wauters drew this subject from medieval history, his rich colors and painterly brushwork also pay homage to Renaissance art and to the dramatic Baroque style of painting that became popular in Europe in the 1600s.

This painting was a sketch for a larger version in the Brussels Town Hall. Belgium had only gained independence in 1830, and such images bolstered a sense of national pride and shared history among citizens.