Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a 14th century English novel. Its manuscript is kept at the British Library, London. The story, considered as one of the first tales of modern English literature, describes how Gawain, knight at the Camelot Court, after cutting the head of the Green Knight, accept to have his own head cut on his turn by the surviving giant knight, one year later in a green chapel.

David Balade created a series of 12 illustrations of this tale, using gouaches, pastels and ink on paper. The artist represents the character of the Green Knight, as a synthesis of the medieval figures of the green man and the masters of the wild creatures of the various Indo-European traditions.