Hus at Constance (1842)
by the German romantic painter Carl Friedrich Lessing (1808-80). The
German protestant shows here Hus as a kind of forefather of Luther
defying the clergy who will burn him.
The Death of Ravana
King of Lanka (1875) by the French painter Fernand-Anne Piestre
Cormon (1845-1924). Ravana is the villain in the Hindu epic Ramayana
where he kidnaps Rama's wife. Cormon depicts him like an ancient
warrior king mourned by his wifes.
Columbus Landing by the
American painter John Vanderlyn (1775-1852). This painting was
commissioned by the Congress in June 1836 for the Capitol Rotunda.
Columbus was claimed as a forefather of the modern USA.
A nice illustration to
Shakespeares Antonius and Cleopatra by the American artist Edwin
Austin Abbey (1852-1911). It was published in Harper's Monthly
Magazine in September 1909.
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.