Defending Civilization

The Romans cause a wall to be built (1857) by the Scottish painter William Bell Scott (1811-1890) .

Scott depicts here the construction of the Hadrian's Wall in Northern England. While the work is going on it is already attacked by the barbarian Scots. So it permits the people to live in peace.

Napoleon-Cult

The battle of Jena by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815–1891). Another of Napoleon’s great victories by the well known French battle painter.

Bitter Grief

Mourning her Brave (1883) by the American painter George de Forest Brush (1855-1941). A great symbolic painting about grief, the tragic end of a people.

Above all in it's simplicity and it's nearly abstract, two dimensional execution it's a really modern painting. It doesn't pretend to be realistic, it's a powerful impression of a tragedy.