The Accolade is an oil-on-canvas painting by the British artist Edmund Leighton, created in 1901. The painting depicts an accolade, a ceremony of the Middle Ages in which a knighthood is conferred on a worthy recipient. The man to be knighted kneels in front of the monarch on a cushion, and the monarch lays the side of the sword's blade first onto the candidate's right shoulder and then onto the left. In the painting, the ceremony is being performed by a young queen, with the knight bowed before her feet in a position of submission and fealty. An audience is gathered on the queen's left, serving as witnesses to the ceremony. The painting is currently in a private collection.Painting credit: Edmund Leighton