The scene is set in a narrow city street. A young man, Quentin Durward, clad head to foot in armour and wearing a sword secured by a red sash, stands, legs apart, on the left. He looks straight out at the spectator. To the left of Durward is a balding man in a red and orange tunic, leaning forward and looking up at him. Durward's right arm is grasped by an elderly man who wears a black hat with red lappets. Behind this group is a man, yelling and waving his fist, and a crowd of people looking at Durward. In the right half of the picture, in the foreground, a man lies sprawled on the ground. Above him is a man in a white shirt and green leggings who is brandishing an axe. To his right is a turbaned man, leaning forward, and behind them an angry mob, one of whom carries aloft a scythe. Above the crowd, women lean from the windows. The end of the street, with a distant church tower and the sky, can be seen at the top centre of the picture.