Day in a tavern (1880) by the Spanish painter Luis Ricardo Falero (1851-1896).
Above all Falero became famous for his fantasy paintings of gorgeous nude fairies and witches. Nothing against that, but it indicates that the artist painted at first what could be sold easily.
History painting dates back to the Renaissance and was long considered to be the "grand genre". Nevertheless it has its peak in the 19th century forged by Neoclassicism and Romanticism. There it became the artistic contribution in the process of the construction of National Identities of the European and American nations.
At the same time history painting under the influence of historism pretended to be "realistic", to show history how it has been. Above all it was this pretension that led to the great failure of History painting AND Realism at the end of the century.
When artists and their public realized that telling history always will be subjective and a painting will always be an illusion Realism and history painting lost their ground to modern painting.
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ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend.
Thanks for the flowers and the award. I'll put your blog on my blogroll.
ReplyDeleteHow kind of you. It was not necessary but I am truly honored.
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