Wednesday, December 26, 2012
A Lonesome Ruler
Ivan IV by the Russian painter Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926). Vasnetsov shows here the feared Ivan the Terrible as a lonesome ruler who seemed to be frozen by symbols and burden of his power.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Weary Warriors
Morning of the Battle of Agincourt 25th October 1415 (1884) by the English artist Sir John Gilbert (1817–1897). Gilbert started more as a craftsman. He did mostly illustrations and woodcuts for magazines like Illustrated London News Punch or The London Journal and books.
Anyway, I appreciate a lot his interpretation of the the Battle of Agincourt. Old weary warriors are praying and awaiting their fate while above them are already flying the crows to feast on the dead.
Anyway, I appreciate a lot his interpretation of the the Battle of Agincourt. Old weary warriors are praying and awaiting their fate while above them are already flying the crows to feast on the dead.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Who Trusts a Cardinal
Afternoon Tea by the Italian classicist painter Francesco Brunery (1849-1926). Brunery studied with Gérôme and was well known for his anti-clerical art. Here it looks like the older lady is hooking up the cardinal with a young girl, maybe her daughter or niece.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Another Highlight of History
Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible conquers Kazan (1880) by the Russian painter Alexey Kivshenko (1851-1895). Kivshenko depicts here one of the great highlights of Russian history. The Russians now free from the Mongol yoke are now beating back and starting their own conquest.
It's easy to imagine that this painting was very popular as illustration in schoolbooks and so on.
It's easy to imagine that this painting was very popular as illustration in schoolbooks and so on.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Pleading for Compassion
Priamus at the Feet of Achilles pleading for the Body of Hector (1876) by the French painter Joseph Wencker (1848-1919). Despite the story nowadays is mostly forgotten it was a very popular subject in the 18th and 19th century. The old king softening the heart of the harsh and bitter hero.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Classical Exploitation
Summer Bath at Pompeii (1876) by the French painter Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger (1824-88). The classical scenery here is a mere smokescreen to present a bunch of stretching nudes.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Leftovers of an Army
Friday, November 2, 2012
A Classical Mother
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Finding Moses

Sunday, October 21, 2012
A Female Butcher

Monday, October 15, 2012
A British Hero
Monday, October 8, 2012
Faded Laurels
Monday, October 1, 2012
CinemaScope Painting
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Fairy Tale Knight

Tuesday, September 18, 2012
The Flute Concert
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
The Father of the Occident

Wednesday, September 5, 2012
A Wicked Queen

Tuesday, August 28, 2012
God was watching
Friday, August 10, 2012
Nice Decadence
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Battle of Somo-Sierra
Saturday, July 28, 2012
A cruel Empress
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Slaughterhouse Troy

Sunday, July 15, 2012
Well equipped Columbus

Saturday, July 7, 2012
Bloody Fighting

Sunday, July 1, 2012
Beneath the Arena

Monday, June 25, 2012
Orient meets History
Monday, June 18, 2012
Sweet Priestess
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
A brave Messenger
Monday, June 4, 2012
The White Company

But anyway Wyeth painted an impressive bunch of cutthroats.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
A City Founder
Monday, May 21, 2012
Kind of Nature

Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Merry Old Times
Monday, May 7, 2012
A New Start
Monday, April 30, 2012
Peeping in the Arena

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Ecce Homo!

Thursday, April 19, 2012
Art Deco Cleopatra
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Sacred Act
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Victory of the citizens

Especially in the 19th century Italian romantics discovered here the roots of modern citizenship.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Sack of Rome
Genseric sacking Rome 455 (1833-1836) by the Russian painter Karl Pavlovich Briullov (1799-1852).
Despite Briullov is considered the most important Russian romantic painter the neoclassical influence is still very dominant here. Wilde barbaric hordes are sacking Rome the cradle of modern culture.
Besides the barbarian costumes are still very dilettantish indicating the poor state of historical research.

Besides the barbarian costumes are still very dilettantish indicating the poor state of historical research.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
A Broken Hero
Belisarius receiving hospitality from a peasant who had served under him (1779) by the French neoclassical painter Jean-François Pierre Peyron (1744-1814).
Peyron was one of the most influential neoclassical painters of his time until the rise of David. He shows here the great Byzantine General who defeated Vandals and Ostrogoths but was nonetheless blinded by an ungrateful Emperor. Here the old blind hero is still worshiped by one of his veterans.

Saturday, March 17, 2012
More Good Old Times

Domingo y Marqués turned later to Impressionism but first he did many traditional history paintings. There he prefered genre paintings with subjects from the 17th or 18th century, normally depicting a merry colourful past.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Marble Past
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Chaos and Disaster
Monday, February 27, 2012
Viking Funeral
The Funeral of a Viking (1893) by the British painter Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee (1853-1928).
Dicksee was a typical Victorian painter who exploited historical subjects in a manner which is still considered as Pre-Raphaelite style even though it has absolutely nothing to do with that.
Here he shows a highly dramatic scene where the Vikings are clad in Gallic armor including the stupid horned helmets invented by Wagnerian stage designers. To to me it seems more than stupid to push a longship through the surf.
It is safe to assume that the whole scenery is as false as the costumes, but this didn’t stop the popularity of the work which was used in 1990 as a cover of a heavy metal cd.

Here he shows a highly dramatic scene where the Vikings are clad in Gallic armor including the stupid horned helmets invented by Wagnerian stage designers. To to me it seems more than stupid to push a longship through the surf.
It is safe to assume that the whole scenery is as false as the costumes, but this didn’t stop the popularity of the work which was used in 1990 as a cover of a heavy metal cd.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Historical Landscape
Landscape with Aeneas at Delos (1672) by the French Baroque painter Claude Lorrain, (1600-1682).
Lorrain was famous above all for his landscape paintings, mostly showing classical architecture and a seaport. He preferred historical subjects, which gave him the reason to paint his beloved classical architecture.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012
A Tragically Capitulation

The proud Gallic chieftain is leaving the besieged Alesia in 52 BC to surrender to the Romans. Motte depicted here a national hero surrendering to a foreign superior machinery of war. So it’s probably a reference to the French capitulation to the Prussians in 1871.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Columbus before the Queen
Columbus before the Queen (1843) by the German American history painter Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (1816–1868).
Leutze depicted here the dramatic moment when Columbus was released from prison to defend his cause before the Catholic monarchs. On the floor are lying still his shackles indicating his imprisonment and the queen has turned her head away ashamed. Besides the magnificent costumes Leutze dedicated a great effort to the architecture on the Alhambra palace in Granada where the meeting took place.

Friday, February 3, 2012
Erotic Priestess

Here he depicted the Oracle of Delphi, the so called "Pythia", sitting on a tripod breathing the volcanic vapors which are rising from a crack in the floor.
But despite all these historical well done details it’s the gorgeous body of the young girl which attracts the onlooker. So it’s in the end pure exploitation disguised as history lesson.

Saturday, January 28, 2012
Historical Landscape

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