Order of release 1746 (1853) by the English painterJohn Everett Millais (1829–1896). Millais depicts here the wife of a rebel Scottish soldier arriving with an order of release for her husband who has been imprisoned after the Jacobite rising of 1745. Finally the war is over. It's kind of typical for Millais that heroism is much more with the civilians, the non-combatants.
Attack on a Wagon Train (1902) by the American painter Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926) also known as C. M. Russell. Russel did more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Indians, and landscapes of the old west.
The destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem (1867) by the Italian painter Francesco Hayez (1791-1882). Hayez depicts here the sack of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. It's no glorious event at all, but a bloody massacre where even the angels are horrified flying away.
Cleopatra and Anthony (1902) by the American artist Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951). History is here only the decoration for much greater emotions. With this powerful illustration Leyendecker kind of anticipates the movie of 1963 starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
The Victory at Narva (1905) by the Swedish painter Gustav Cederström (1845-1933). Once again Cederström glorifies here the great time of the Swedish warrior king Charles XII.
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.