Sarah Bernhardt played the male character of Lorenzo de' Medici in Alfred de Musset's Romantic tragedy in 1896. Set in 16th-century Florence, the plot tells of how Lorenzo de' Medici kills Florence's tyrant, Alessandro de' Medici, depicted by Mucha as a snaring dragon menacing the coat of arms of the city of Florence in the upper part of the poster. Bernhardt, portrayed face on, contemplates the murder, symbolized by a dagger piercing the tyrannical dragon at the foot of the poster.

Alphonse Mucha was a painter and decorative artist best known for the sensual Art Nouveau paintings, posters, and advertisements that came to define Art Nouveau in fin de siècle Paris. In 1887, after periods of employment in Vienna and Moravia, and studies in Munich and Paris, Mucha began to support himself producing magazine and advertising illustrations. Eventually he gained fame by creating a poster for a play featuring Sarah Bernhardt, in the role of Gismonda. It was the first of many of his depictions of voluptuous women seductively posed and draped in sheer, clinging gowns. They are generally set off by sinuous hair, turgid vines, and bountiful flowers, all distinctly outlined in the manner of Japanese woodcuts. The coiled eroticism of Mucha’s compositions created a lush and sensuous beauty that was admired and imitated by both collectors and artists alike.