Painting History

Historical Landscape

2012-01-28T10:46:00.000-08:00

Thingvellir (1897) by the British painter William Collingwood (1819-1903). Collingwood was a well known watercolor landscape painter and depicted here the Althing (Alþingi) in medieval Iceland, which was probably the oldest parliament in Europe. I think that it’s intentional how people and tents are integrated into the landscape, so that this archaic democratic tradition becomes part of it.

Cloudy Visions

2012-01-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

Napoleon Near Moscow, Waiting for a Boyar Deputation (1891-1892) by the Russian painter Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (1842-1904). Vereshchagin depicted here Napoleon in a very symbolic way. Despite the dust clouds may be realistic they illustrate much more the treacherous illusion of Napoleons victory. There was nothing gained and soon all will be gone.

Nordic Rococo

2012-01-17T00:32:00.000-08:00

Freja Seeking her Husband (1852) by the Swedish painter Nils Blommér (1816-1853). Blommér was greatly influenced by late German Romanticism and turned to national mythology like so many of this movement.

Here he shows the Nordic goddess of love and fertility Freya in her cart drawn by cats. Despite that’s not surprising for a Pre-Wagnerian artist, the false historical construction reveals itself by the baroque angels, who have nothing Nordic at all, so it’s much more a kind of post-rococo kitsch.

The Spirit of Russian Past

2012-01-10T02:29:00.000-08:00

Two book illustrations by the great Russian artist Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876-1942). Bilibin was probably the most influential art nouveau illustrator in Russia. He himself studied under Ilya Repin and was later fascinated with old folkloric Russian art of the Russian North.

Despite there are many historically correct details in his illustrations he never pretended to be "realistic" like so many academic painters at this time. He tired much more to catch the spirit of Russian past.

A Bloody Struggle

2012-01-04T00:35:00.000-08:00

Saragossa 10 February 1809 by the British painter Harold Hume Piffard (1895-1938).

Piffard depicts here the bloody struggle in a church during the siege a Saragossa. The defending Spanish priests are showing even more bloodlust than their French adversaries. And to me it seems that the priest in center is not praying peace or forgiveness, it looks much like some kind of exorcism.

Theatrical Costumes

2011-12-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

Cover of The Saturday Evening Post 1934 by the great American artist Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951).

Sure, that’s no history painting, but Leyendecker refers to that kind of history fashion, where stuffy bourgeois went dressed up as Romans. It’s kind of the same fashion that favored painters like Waterhouse or Alma-Tadelma. There are the nice costumes and the great gestures. A really nice cartoon full of Leyendecker’s cutting irony.

Fallen from Grace

2011-12-22T10:11:00.000-08:00

Mariamne Leaving the Judgment Seat of Herod (1887) by the British painter John William Waterhouse (1849-1917).

Mariamne I was the second wife of Herod the Great. She was famous for her beauty, but because of her conflict with Salome the sister of Herod she was finally convicted and executed in 29 BC. It’s said that Herod grieved for her for many months.

Waterhouse depicts here the queen on her way to prison and the grieving king. But more than in this story he seemed to be interested in the historical details, the marble the magnificent architecture. Academic history painting is already on its way to pure decoration.

Bold Americans

2011-12-17T00:29:00.000-08:00

Ferdinand de Soto on the banks of the Mississippi by the American artist Herbert Moore (1881-1943). This was an illustration for the book "The Men Who Found America" by Frederick Winthrop Hutchinson (1909).

The Spanish conquistador is looking on the endless waters of the Mississippi, where he should die in 1542. The vastness of the landscape and the river underlines the courage of these men, who went so far in unknown territory. And last not least the Spaniard is here claimed as one of the forefathers of the modern US-Americans.

Kind of a Goddess

2011-12-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

Phryne at the Festival of Poseidon in Eleusin (1889) by the Polish painter Henryk Hector Siemiradzki (1843-1902). Here a print of this popular painting

Phryne was the most famous hetaera of Ancient Greece (390-330 BC) whose beauty was compared to a goddess.

Because of her lovers she was very rich and Siemiradzki shows her here with a lot of servants and admirers. For him it was a good opportunity to depict a lot of historical costumes, items and architecture with every detail. But truth be told, above all it was a possibility to paint a beautiful woman, who is posing effectively in the center.

Good Old Days

2011-12-04T00:49:00.000-08:00

A Musical Interlude (1903) by the French artist Adolphe Alexandre Lesrel (1839-1929). Lesrel did a really good job, costumes, gowns, architecture, and furniture, all is well researched and perfectly painted. But nevertheless it demonstrates only the hollowness of academic art at the beginning of the 20th century.

Signing the Treaty

2011-11-28T11:32:00.000-08:00

Signing the Treaty with the Indians (c.1890) by the American painter John Ward Dunsmore (1856-1945). Despite it’s a well done history painting, there is nothing special about it. It’s good old European academic style.

Alone and Lost in the Forest

2011-11-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

The Chasseur in the Forest (1814) by the German painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). Despite it doesn’t look like very patriotic at first glance it’s eminently that. There is a French soldier (one of Napoleon’s occupants) lone and lost in a dark German forest. So the painting is suggesting that there are other powers than simple soldiers that will help to free Germany from her oppressors.

A National Icon

2011-11-16T09:43:00.000-08:00

The Prophetess Libuse (1893) by the Czechoslovakian painter Karel Vitezlav Mašek (1865–1927). Libuse is the legendary founder of Prague and the ancestor of the Přemyslid dynasty and the Czech people as whole.

This Art Nouveau painting reminds of stained glass in churches and is therefore a good modern interpretation of a national myth.

Beautiful Slave Women

2011-11-08T00:31:00.000-08:00

Sex sells! This platitude proves true especially in art history. Already a lot of Renaissance painters improved there incomes by painting gorgeous nudes or adding them to other sceneries.

In 19th century academic painting voluptuous nudes were so endemic that it was necessary to find good excuses for their omnipresence. So they were situated in mythological, biblical and not at least historical sceneries.

One of the most popular practices to place nudes in history paintings was slavery. Paining nudes on an antique slave market was not only a good excuse but also kind of politically correct. Superficially accusing the suppression and exploitation of the poor females the artists could paint gorgeous nudes and exploit them themselves by selling them in the art market.

The White Slave (1894) by the British painter Ernest Normand (1859-1923). Normand was kind of a specialist in mythological and historical nudes.

Roman Slave (1894) by the Brazilian painter Oscar Pereira da Silva (1867-1939). On the sign is written "VIRGO XXI ANNUS NATA" meaning "Virgin, 21 years old". That feigns authenticity, but it’s a poor invention. Beautiful slaves were never sold nude on the streets.

Slave Market in Rome (c. 1884) by the French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904). Gérôme did also a lot of paintings of this subject but preferably with an oriental setting which offered even more salacious opportunities.

In the long run nearly all these paintings are cheap exploitation already long before the word was used in that context. I know only one painting which offers another point of view on that subject: A Slave for Sale (c. 1897) by the Spanish painter Aranda, José Jiménez (1837-1903).

There is a young slave girl bowing her head in shame, clearly a victim. She’s not voluptuous like the slaves by Normand or Gérôme, she’s pregnant probably violated. Around here are the feet of lecherous men the possible buyers and above all the voyeurs. This circle can be completed with the contemplators of the painting.
Really a great piece of art!

The Lovers of Teruel

2011-11-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Lovers of Teruel (1884) by the Spanish painter Antonio Muñoz Degrain (1840-1924). Muñoz Degrain depicted here an old Spanish legend. He did with all the drama and perfection of the heyday of history painting, which won him a medal in the national exposition.

Cleopatra's Banquet

2011-10-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

Cleopatra's Banquet (c.1675) by the Dutch Golden Age painter Gerard de Lairesse (1640-1711). Cleopatra is here dissolving her earring in vinegar and will drink it to prove to the Roman Mark Antony that she can spent ten million sestertia for one supper.

Despite the architecture is pure fantasy it shows that Lairesse already tried to provide his painting with a historical setting.

Tragical End of a Hero

2011-10-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

Miranda in prison (1896) by the Venezuelan painter Arturo Michelena (1863-1898). Miranda, who was a student of the famous French history painter Jean-Paul Laurens, depicts here one of the founders of Latin American Liberty.

Sebastián Francisco de Miranda was a Venezuelan revolutionary and is considered as a forerunner of Simón Bolívar. After is revolution had failed he died in a Spanish prison.

Victorian Kitsch

2011-10-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

A Sick Child Brought into the Temple of Aesculapius (1877) by the British painter John William Waterhouse (1849-1917).

Waterhouse specialized in sugary scenes likes this. Sometimes he choose medieval sceneries, on other occasions classical Greek or Roman ones. But he always provided what the Victorian clients expected.

A Heroic Episode

2011-10-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

The Combat of the Thirty by the French (1857) painter Octave Penguilly L'Haridon (1811-1870)

Penguilly L'Haridon shows here an episode of the Hundred Years War which happened on 26 March 1351 in Brittany. Thirty English knights (many of them were foreign mercenaries) fought there in a kind of formal joust against 30 knights from the French-Breton side.

It’s a quite well done painting with a lot of good historical details. Like many history paintings in the 19th century it’s glorifying regional history and was therefore achieved by the musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper.

Religious Fanatic

2011-09-30T00:35:00.000-07:00

The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 (1889) by the Spanish painter Emilio Sala y Francés (1850-1910)

Several months after the fall of Granada an Edict of Expulsion was issued against the Jews of Spain by the so called Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. It ordered all Jews of whatever age to leave the kingdom by the last day of July. The Jews offered then an immense ransom of 600,000 crowns for the revocation of the edict. When the monarchs were ready to accept, Torquemada, the grand inquisitor, dashed into the royal presence and, throwing a crucifix down before the king and queen, asked whether, like Judas, they would betray their Lord for money.
The Jews were expulsed from Spain with fatal consequences for the whole country.

Sala y Francés is depicting here the moment when the fanatic Torquemada is accusing the Jews. It’s one of the highlights of Spanish history painting illustrating one of the darkest moments of her history.

Sugary Past

2011-09-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

The First Thanksgiving (c1912) by the American painter Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863-1930).

Ferris shows here a scenery very popular in American culture and iconography. In autumn of 1621 the surviving Pilgrims celebrated their successful harvest and invited the Indians who helped them before with food.

The scene is heavily romanticized. The Indians there didn’t wore feathers in their hair, but they look more "Indian" with that. And as savages that are sitting on the floor, which they wouldn’t have done. So it’s despite all the nice colorful details nothing authentic.

An Early Scientist

2011-08-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

The Alchemist Sedziwoj and King Sigismund III (1867) by the Polish painter Jan Matejko (1838-1893).

Matejko depicted here the famous alchemist not as a charlatan but as a kind of early engineer and scientist, which he was. Because Sedziwoj constructed mines and foundries and did a lot of chemical experimentation.

Semiramis

2011-08-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

Semiramis constructing Babylon (1861) by the French painter Edgar Degas (1834-1917).

This may be a little surprising because the impressionist artist despised history painting as a typical form of academic art. And Degas ist considered as one of the founders of impressionism.
But at the beginning of his career he wanted to be a history painter like the best artists of this time.

A pensative Hero

2011-08-12T00:21:00.000-07:00

El Gran Capitán visits the battlefield of Ceriñola (1835) by the Spanish history painter Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (1815–1894).

Madrazo shows here the famous Spanish military leader after his great victory of Ceriñola in 1503. He is looking at the dead body of Louis d'Armagnac the leader of the French forces. So it’s also a reflection about luck, death and destiny.
Formally the painting is orientated at Velazquez.

Little Luther

2011-08-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

Luther singing as a boy before lady Cotty in eisenach in 1499 (1872) by the Belgian history painter Ferdinand Pauwels (1830-1904).

The later Reformer is here aleready a devoted Christian and probably singing like an angel. It’s idyllic and kind of protestant religious kitsch.
Pauwels did a series of his popular Luther paintings.

Classical Love Story

2011-07-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

Horace and Lydia (1924) by the British painter John Collier (1850-1934).

Collier one of the most prominent British painters of his generation shows here a fictional .dialogue between the great Roman poet Horace and Lydia.
Despite it’s a well done painting, one shouldn’t forget that it was done in 1924! Meaning it was much more than out of fashion. Collier kept stubborn to his 19th century style ignoring all what happened around him.

Heroic History

2011-07-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Expulsion of the Danes from Manchester 910 AD (1879-93) by the English painter Ford Maddox Brown (1821-1893).

This is a fresco in the Manchester Town Hall. These “illustrations” of great events of the own history were very popular in the 19th century. As frescos in public buildings they gave the illusion of a long important history. Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian-era Neo-gothic building which only pretends to be medieval underlines this circumstance.

It’s interesting that Maddox Brown doesn’t pretend to be realistic, he presented a kind of naïve comic strip. Nice is the archer who seems to be taken from an Italian renaissance painting.

Hessian Mercenaries

2011-07-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hessian Mercenaries by the American illustrator Mead Schaeffer (1898-1980). The illustration was done for the book Everybody's Washington by Alden Arthur Knipe published in 1931.

Despite some may think that’s a simple book illustration, you should notice the brilliant simplifications, the string colors and shadows. That’s Art Deco at it’s best.

Celtic Raiders

2011-07-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

Two Celtic raiders bythe French painter Evariste Vital Luminais (1821-1896). Luminais was specialized in warriors of the old French past. He glorified them in a dark romantic way.

Sweet Middle Ages

2011-06-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

A Paige by the French painter Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889).

Cabanel was one of he most influential artists in 19th century France. He was part of the jury of the important Paris Salon. He and Bougereau were responsible that the later impressionist artist weren’t allowed to exhibit their work in the Salon of 1863.
So a kind of ultra-traditionalist artist he presents here his interpretation of a sweet romantic past: a medieval page. The cheesy work was bought by emperor Napoleon III.

Rejecting the tribute

2011-06-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

Ivan the Great tearing the khan's letter to pieces (c.1880) by the Russian painter Alexey Kivshenko (1851-1895).

Ivan the Great was the Grand Prince of Moscow who refused in 1480 to pay the customary tribute to the grand Khan of the Golden Horde. And liberated Russia from the so called Tatar yoke.
It’s told that he tered apart the khan’s letter. For every Russian it’s therefore one of the great highlights of national history.

Viking Raiders

2011-06-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Ravager (1909) by the British artist John Charles Dollman (1851-1934).

Dollman specialized in historical subjects and genre. Besides paintings he did many illustrations for books. Here he depicted a group of Viking raiders with their then so popular decorated helmets. They are advancing over a snow covered plain accompanied by ravens, the vultures of the North.

Lost Cause

2011-05-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

A Lost Cause (1888) by the British painter Andrew Carrick Gow (1848-1920).

Gow was a well known history painter. Here he shows James II fleeing to France after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, which ended the catholic claim to the throne and brought the protestant William of Orange to power. It’s therefore a tragic scene, hopes and dreams are buried and many, many Irish will follow their prince into exile.

A Bard

2011-05-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

Boyan (1910) by the Russian painter Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926).

Vasnetsov son of a priest and played a leading role in the evolution of Russian art from 19th-century realism towards Art Nouveau with a national historical slant. He was also very important in utilizing historical subjects to create a kind of national Slavic myth.
Here he shows Boyan a famous bard from the times of Yaroslav the Wise (c. 978–1054) one of the great rulers of the old Rus. Old noble Rus warriors are listening to their bard, who’s is probably telling them patriotic stories of their glorious past.

Cain's Clan

2011-05-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

Cain (1880) by the French painter Fernand-Anne Piestre Cormon (1845-1924).

Cormon depicted Cain and his family fleeing through a desert. There are desperate people in a desperate situation. The strong long shadows have the effect that the whole clan is haunted by the light, meaning the wrath of God.
But despite the biblical subject the painting is above all an anthropologic study. It shows how the artist imagined prehistoric people. So Cain’s folk look more like a horde of Neanderthal or Cro-Magnon, which had been discovered not long before the painting was done.

Sturdy Knights

2011-05-04T00:15:00.000-07:00

An illustration of the book The Boy's King Arthur (1922) by N.C. (Newell Convers) Wyeth, one of America's greatest illustrators (1882–1945).

Unlike the 19th century artists historical accuracy was no objective for Wyeth. He was aware that history always would be a construction. So he painted two bullish, powerful knights wearing their armor like a skin.

Recruiting the Poor

2011-04-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Listed for the Connaught Rangers or Recruiting in Ireland (1878) by Lady Butler (1846-1933).

Lady Butler leaves no doubt about the origins of the British soldiers. Here are the poor and homeless recruited to defend the empire. It’s a kind of anticipation of her later painting Evicted (1890).

The Palace Guard

2011-04-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

The Palace Guard (1902) by the Austrian painter Ludwig Deutsch (1855-1935).

Deutsch was a very successful orientalist painter and spent most of his career in Paris. To achieve highly detailed scenes he travelled various times to Egypt, took a lot of photographs and had a large collection of tiles, furniture, arms, pipes, fabrics, and costumes.
But nonwithstanding that he was very exact in the details of architecture and costumes his paintings are pure invention. They are glorifying an exotic oriental past, which never existed. But especially because of this combination Deutsch can be considered as one of the ancestors of modern fantasy art.

A dead King

2011-04-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

Edith Finding the Body of Harold (1828) by the French painter Horace Emile Jean Vernet (1789-1863).

Vernet depicts here the day after the battle of Hastings (1066) when the queen of the fallen Anglo-Saxon king Harold found the body of her husband. It’s dramatically illuminated and the gestures of the monks indicate grief and disaster.
But above all the painting illustrates the low level of historic knowledge in the early 19th century.

Patriotic Sacrifice

2011-03-21T00:34:00.000-07:00

Malasaña and his Daughtery (1890) by the Spanish painter Eugenio Álvarez Dumont (1864-1927).

Eugenio Álvarez Dumont was a very popular painter in his time. Here he presents he scenery from the uprising in Madrid in May 1808 against the Napoleonic occupation, with is better known by the paintings by Goya.
Here the butchered daughter lies on the street like a martyr, while her father tries to avenge her death against a much better but yet scared French cuirassier.
Despite it’s a very well done painting it indicates also already the decline of history-painting, because it’s too well done, too constructed. At the end of the century people didn’t believe much longer in this kind of art.

Patriotic Self-Sacrifice

2011-03-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

The Oath of the Horatii (1784) by the French painter Jacques-Louis David (1748- 1825).

David was probably the most influential French painter in the Neoclassical style and started a kind of new era in history painting. His art is mere political propaganda. A reduction of forms and space to the essential. His Oath of the Horatii is an appeal to masculine self-sacrifice for one's country and patriotism.
Disgusting from a modern point of view!

Modern Roman

2011-03-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

A Roman officer by the Peruvian American artist Boris Vallejo (born in 1941).

Despite the nearly photorealistic setting it’s all but historic. The women with their eighties tangas, their metal bikinis and their contemporary hairstyle. So it doesn’t matter that the model for the Roman was Vallejo himself.
History has lost all it’s only a exotic decoration for fantasy.

Joan and Michael

2011-02-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

The archangel Michael appears to Joan of Arc (1876) by the French painter Eugène Thirion (1839-1910).

Different from many other paintings Joan is here no warrior. She’s a poor girl spinning wool when the archangel appears. In the back is a heroic bugler to be seen.
So it’s above all a patriotic call to arms, which has to be put into the context of the lost war against Prussia in 1871.

Art Deco Cleopatra

2011-02-10T09:55:00.000-08:00

Cleopatra by the American Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951).

Leyendecker was a brilliant illustrator of the Art Deco movement. His Cleopatra here is pure ornament and decoration. A historical person is converted into an icon.

Sicilian Vespers

2011-02-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

The Sicilian Vespers by the Italian painter Francesco Hayez (1791-1882).

Hayez was the most important Italian Romantic painter in the 19th century and probably the most important history painter too. Here he shows the rebellion in Sicily in 1282 against the French rule. The Italians slaughtered then all the French on the island. Here a French seeks protecting beneath the cross, but in vain.
Hayez was fascinated by the subject because between 1821 and 1846 he painted a whole series of it.

The Adventurer

2011-01-21T11:41:00.000-08:00

The Adventurer (1882) by the Swiss symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901).

Despite is nearly perfectly painted with very realistic details, it’s no realistic painting at all. The whole scenery and pose are constructed. The parting ship, the bones, the lonesome knight all are symbols.
Böcklin doesn’t pretend to show a real scene of history, it’s much more an idea, a dream.

Facing Death

2011-01-12T01:20:00.001-08:00

The Last moments of Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico by the French painter Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921).

Laurens shows here the farewell of Maximilian before his execution. Different from his friends he’s the only one showing real strength, he’s going to die like an Emperor.

Defending Civilization

2010-12-29T10:15:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-20T10:34:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-11T08:33:00.001-08:00

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.

Patriotic Death

2010-09-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

The Swiss painter Konrad Grob (1828-1904) depicted here the heroic deed and death of his legendary compatriot Arnold Winkelried in the Battle of Sempach in 1386.

According to legend, the Swiss could not break the close ranks of the Habsburg knights. Winkelried threw himself into the pikes with the cry "a breach for liberty" facilitating the victory of the Swiss. It’s typical 19th century painting but nevertheless it’s well done, confronting very dynamically the poor armed and clad but energetic Swiss farmers with the Austrian wall of steel.

The Colossus of Rhodes

2010-08-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Colossus of Rhodes (1914) by the Spanish painter Antonio Muñoz Degrain (1840-1924). When he painted this Muñoz Degrain had long moved to impressionism and done several journeys to Turkey, Syria and Egypt. So the painting is less a historical but much more a reflection about light and life in the Near East.

Art Nouveau Knight

2010-08-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

A knight errant from the beginning of the 20th century by the Austrian painter Erwin Stolz (1896-1987).

Maybe he represents Sir Galahad searching the Holy Grail. In the best Art Nouveau manner the painting reduces perspective and colors but is instead full of symbols like the divine light from above or the wild geese an old icon for wandering adventurers,

Classical Barbarians

2010-08-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

The Death of Viriathus the chief of the Lusitanians (1807) by the Spanish painter José de Madrazo y Agudo (1781-1859).

Viriathus was the most important leader of the Lusitanian when they resisted Roman expansion into the regions of Western Hispania, today Portugal. Viriathus fought with great success against the Romans until he was betrayed to the Romans and killed in138 BC.

So it’s not astonishing that Viriathus was discovered in the 19th century by the patriots of Portugal and Spain as a kind of early national hero fighting foreign oppressors like Napoleon in their present days. But surprising is at least the fact that Madrazo depicted the barbarian chieftain and his followers as Greek or Romans. The whole painting resembles a lot the “Oath of the Horatii” (1784) by David. The explanation is that Madrazo was a pupil of David in Paris. And as the Lusitanians are looking like their Roman enemies, the Spanish patriot painted like his French adversaries.

On The Way To Destiny

2010-08-02T00:19:00.000-07:00

Wallensteins on his way to Eger (c.1861/62) by the German painter Karl Theodor von Piloty (1826–1886).

Piloty was the leading German history painter of the late 19th century. Here he depicted the most important General of the Catholic League during the Thirty Years War. Wallenstein on the peak of his power was on his way to Eger. There he planned to start peace negotiations on his own but was murdered by some of his officers.

It was this vicinity of power and failure, the fall from great height what Piloty fascinated. There is a mighty army moving, but in front are already waiting the gravediggers – looks like a quotation of Hamlet.

Egyptian Artist

2010-07-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

Egypt (1902) by the American artist Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966).

Maxfield Parrish was a famous Illustrator of the Art Deco era, who worked regularly for great magazines like Colliers, Scribners or Century. He experimented a lot with new techniques and achieved above all dazzlingly luminous colors. Like many modern artists of that time Parrish renounces to paint a historical illusion. To him history is only a kind of decoration, a fantasy, so he doesn’t pretend to be realistic. His Egyptian artist is much more color, form and elegance.

The Doors of Tamerlane

2010-07-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

The Doors of Tamerlane (1872-73) by the Russian painter Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (1842-1904).

Vereshchagin served in the Russian army in their campaigns in Central Asia and participated in military actions against the Emir of Bukhara and fought with bravery in the defense of Samarkand. During these campaigns he became fascinated by the live and culture of the people there. He painted later many Central Asian warriors in their archaic look. Or he painted like here historical warriors guarding the palace of Tamerlane in Samarkand resembling their actual heirs.

Classical Ideal

2010-06-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

View of the Acropolis in Athens (1846) by the German artist Leo von Klenze (1784 - 1864). Klenze was above all a well known architect who studied classical architecture in Greece and Italy and designed public buildings in this tradition in Munich. So he wasn’t very interested in narrating old stories but more to show how his ideal may have looked like.

Patriotic Icon

2010-06-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

The Departure of Jeanne d'Arc

Entrance of Jeanne d'Arc at Orleans

These two romantic paintings of the national icon Jeanne d’Arc are by the French painter Jean-Jacques Scherrer (1855-1916). Scherrer did them in the 1870s after the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war, when he left his beloved Alsace which was lost in the war.
So Jeanne is here a kind of patriotic consolation and hope for a victory in the future.

The Rider on the Pale Horse

2010-06-19T00:54:00.000-07:00

Napoleon’s Vision (1910) by the Polish painter Wojciech Kossak (1857-1942). Wojciech Kossak was the son of the famous history painter Juliusz Kossak and became well known for his battle paintings. Despite he preferred normally a more realistic depiction he shows here a symbolic interpretation of Napoleon. Napoleon appears as one of the four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the rider on the pale horse whose name was Death!

A Bitter Death

2010-06-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson (1881) by the British painter John Collier (1850-1934).

The great English sea explorer and navigator Henry Hudson traveled on his last expedition in 1611 far north in search of the Northwest Passage when his crew mutinied and set him adrift in a small boat with six of his men and his young son. They were never seen or heard of again.
Collier dramatizes the moment when Hudson already knows about his certain death but has also to face this of his confident son.

The Daughters of the Cid

2010-06-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

The Daughters of the Cid (1879) by the Spanish painter Ignacio Pinazo y Camarlench (1849-1916).

Legend tells that the daughters of the famous Spanish hero, the Cid, were once expelled by their husbands the princes of Carrión. But there is nothing told of torture, nudeness and so on.

Nevertheless Pinazo y Camarlench used the subject to paint two sweet suffering nude girls during his scholarship in Rome. Interesting is that a generation earlier a painter would have used a classical subject to present his nudes, but now the artist turned more to his own national history, which was invented as well.

Nordic Kitsch

2010-05-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

To Valhalla

Wotan takes leave of Brunhild (1892)

These two illustrations by the German painter Konrad Wilhelm Dielitz (1845-1933) are typical for the popular Nordic fantasies at the end of the 19th century so strongly influenced by Wagnerian stage decorations.

Entering Constantinople

2010-05-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

The Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II "the Conqueror" entering Constantinople in 1453 by the French painter Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (1845-1902).

Entrée de Mehmed II dans Constantinople (1876)

Constant where had studied in Paris and was a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel. Later he traveled to Morocco and was strongly influenced by Orientalism. Probably because of that he took here more the romantic eastern perspective than the traditional western.

Folkloristic Varangians

2010-05-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

The Vikings who went in the 9th and 10th centuries on the great rivers to Russia were called Varangians and are considered as important co-founders of the later Russian states. Here two interpretations by Russian painters who belonged to the avant-garde of their time.

Guests from Overseas (1899) by Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947).

Volga Song (1906) by Vassily Vassilyevich Kandinsky (1866-1944).

It’s interesting to observe that Roerich as well as Kandinsky abandoned the traditional forms of "realistic" history painting and came to a more ornamental and abstract style. They didn’t pretend to narrate history "as it has been", they show history more as a kind of folkloristic aesthetic heritage.

Perfect Luxury

2010-05-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Preparation in the Coliseum (1912) by the Dutch painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912).
This was the last great painting by the famous artist. Above all it strikes by it’s details: the marble, the flowers, the silver, the furs.

Most impressive are probably the fruits and the plates on the marble table. Here a detail.

Sometimes people are quoting artwork like this as "real art" opposite to less well done modern art. But I think it’s more symptomatic of the decline of history painting in general. Almost obsessed Alma-Tadema amasses more and more of these perfectly painted details, probably to ensure the value of the painting to underline his knowledge of the past.

But a well done illusion is not already art. For example Alma-Tadema was very afraid of falsifications and introduced a special identification system together with his signature. Sure it’s an impressive painting and it’s much better than a lot of kitsch in that time, but it hasn’t for example half the power of a good illustration by Howard Pyle.

Merry Old Times

2010-05-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Ornamental Death

2010-04-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

These two illustrations are by the Austrian Art Nouveau painter Carl Otto Czeschka (1878-1960) and belonged to the book "Die Nibelungen. Interpreted by Franz Keim" (Wien and Leipzig 1909)

Like in the artwork by Howard Pyle the turn to a subjective interpretation of history can be observed. Even much more Czeschka refrains from any naturalistic depictions. His illustrations are first and foremost decorative ornaments. Nevertheless are his arms and costumes much more historical than that on history paintings which pretended to be realistic. And above all he achieves a kind of neo-Romanesque style like that of medieval illuminated manuscripts.
Really great art!

Marble Body

2010-04-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Death of Cleopatra (1874) by the French Orientalist painter Jean-Andre Rixens.

Like many of his colleagues Rixens shows here the dead Cleopatra bitten by an asp as it was told by Shakespeare and frequently interpreted by painters. Though there is not much new concerning the subject, it is interesting how Rixens painted the dead Queen. The body is so pale and perfect that it resembles much more a statue of marble than something of flesh and blood. Despite the theatrical gestures it’s pure art, already anticipating the upcoming Art Nouveau.

Cossacks on the March

2010-04-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

The Caravan (1881) by the Polish artist Józef Brandt (1841-1915).

Once more Brandt shows the every day life of war. There is no glorious fighting, there’s a muddy, endless road, the southern Ukrainian steppe, which produced this kind of warriors.

Romantic Pirates

2010-04-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

Two Pirate Illustrations by the great American artist Howard Pyle (1853-1911). They were published in the book "Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates", published in 1921, ten years after his death.

Maybe there are some art historians who think that Pyle was no real artist more an "illustrator". But I think that’s totally wrong. These two "illustrations" show the influence of Impressionism and because of that a modern treatment of history. There’s no "pseudo-realistic" treatment of history like by Alma-Tadema or Blair-Leighton. Pyle depicted colourful and bold but also subjective impressions of history.

Babylonian Princess

2010-04-08T10:27:00.000-07:00

"Princess of Babylon" (1904-1910) by the Dutch Kees Van Dongen (1877-1968).

Kees van Dongen was a modernist painter and was counted among the Fauves ("Wild Beasts"). So it’s clear that he was something like the contrary to the traditional history painter. Nevertheless he called this painting "Princess of Babylon", referring to a historical subject. But that’s all, his Princess is a modern "femme fatale", maybe a prostitute. In modern art history is no longer tellable, it’s raw material to illustrate recent circumstances.

An American Hero

2010-04-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

Columbus before the Council of Salamanca (1847) by the American painter William Henry Powell (1823-1879).

Powell was in his time one of the most famous history painters of the United States. He is best known for his painting "the Discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto A.D. 1541" in the Capitol Rotunda.
Here he depicted Columbus defending his plans before the Council of Salamanca. It’s one of these typical history paintings with well arranged groups of persons and an illumination like on a stage.
But the real interesting thing is that Columbus is in a very similar pose like the then so popular anticlerical heroes Luther or Galileo. His clerical adversaries rely on books, Columbus instead stands alone only supported by his maps. He’s a modern man fighting against religious ignorance. And that for Powell is claiming him as a real American hero.

Return of a dead Warrior King

2010-03-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

Bringing Home the Body of King Charles XII of Sweden (1878) by the Swedish painter Gustav Cederström (1845-1933).

Charles XII was the great warrior king of Sweden. After the Thirty Years War Sweden had reached the absolute climax of his power. Charles waged war against Poland, Russia, Denmark and some smaller German countries. At least he found his death in battle during an invasion of Norway.

Here Cederström shows the defeated Swedish Soldiers still proud carrying home the dead body of their king. It was the end of Sweden’s imperial dreams. What Cederström conceals is that many of these men perished in a terrible winter storm.

Horned Helmets

2010-03-24T00:37:00.000-07:00

Even though there are lots of history paintings with Vikings or Germanic warriors wearing horned helmets it is sure that this is a pure invention. Celtic warriors or some Etruscans may have had helmets with horns or wings. The few depictions in Northern Europe belong to older times, the Bronze Age, and are probably showing helmets for ceremonial purposes.

Illustration by N.C. Wyeth for the Arthur Conan Doyle story "The First Cargo", published in Scribner's Magazine, December 1910.

Germanic warriors with horned or winged helmets were a typical invention of 19th century Romanticism, probably because they look so barbarian and exotic. The creation became popular when costume designers used the idea for the heroes and gods in Wagner’s operas.

Later this pure fantasy-invention became so popular that even Danes of today put on these helmets to look like real Vikings. So it’s at least a nice example how the iconography of history painting influenced reality.

Sadistic Cain

2010-03-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

Cains first crime (1893) by the British painter Charles Napier Kennedy (1852-1898).

I like it, despite it’s very traditional painted. A kind of mixture of biblical, historical and oriental fashion. There are Adam and Eve watching their son Cain offering a poor frog to a big marabou. To me the whole painting looks more like a big joke about the whole story.

Master of Victorian Kitsch

2010-03-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

Two examples by the British painter Edmund Blair-Leighton (1853-1922).

God Speed! (1900)

The Accolade (1901)

Leighton pumped out these well done medieval scenes to satisfy the trivial romantic needs of the market. Because of medieval subjects some associate him with the Pre-Raphaelites, I think these were much more ingenious and inventive in their time.

Dangerous Frontier

2010-03-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

At the Southern Border of Muscovy by the Russian painter Sergei Vasilyevich Ivanov (1864-1910).

Ivanov was a member of "the Wanderers" and very interested in politics and Russian history. Here he depicted a raiding party of Crimean Tartars ravaging Russian villages, what they did for centuries until Russia became great and united.

Oedipus

2010-02-28T00:23:00.000-08:00

Oedipus (1867) by the French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904).

This histrionic painting was very popular and often reprinted. It shows Napoleon in front of the Sphinx. The hero of mankind facing destiny, trying to answer it’s questions.

This melodramatic face-to-face is furthermore intensified because Gérôme didn’t paint the pyramids which are behind the Sphinx. So it’s only man and destiny in the desert.

Great Melodrama

2010-02-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

In 1547 the Spanish Duke of Gandia conveyed the corpse of the empress Isabel of Portugal to her burial-place in Granada. It is said that, when he saw the effect of death on the once so beautiful and charming empress, he decided to become a monk.

The Conversion of the Duke of Gandia (1884) is by the famous Spanish history painter José Moreno Carbonero (1858-1942). It’s a perfect constructed melodrama with the desolate duke in the center but concentrating with the light from the left on the casket with the dead body.

Storming Saragossa

2010-02-15T11:59:00.000-08:00

Storming Saragossa (1845) by the Polish military painter January Suchodolski (1797-1875).

It’s interesting to compare this painting with with "The defense of Czestochowa" also by Suchodolski. Both are showing the heroic fighting on the walls with a similar dramatic illumination. A difference is that the walls of Saragossa are much more impressive. Probably this can be explained with the fact, that in Saragossa the Poles were storming – while they defended Czestochowa.

(Too) Late History Painting

2010-02-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Capture of the Pirate Blackbeard by the American painter Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863-1930).

How his name indicates Ferris was a great devotee of the French academic painter Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904). And that illustrates the problem. Ferris worked a whole generation later when history painting in the way of Gérôme and his contemporaries has long passed by.

Despite Ferris was a good artist he is missing the cool and clear composition of the neoclassic trained Gérôme. Ferris piled up a lot of nice historical details and came out as an illustrator but without reaching the high level of his great compatriots Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, or Frank Schoonover who discovered new methods for the interpretation of history.

Ivan the Terrible

2010-02-04T00:38:00.000-08:00

Ivan the Terrible and his Son (1885) Russian realistic painter Ilya Repin (1844-1930).

Repin depicts here how the tsar Ivan the Terrible in an attack of rage killed his only son causing the end of the old Rurik Dynasty. Ivan was already old then (1581) his foreign policy and a lot of his interior reforms had failed and he saw himself surrounded by traitors.

Repin didn’t focus here on the mighty ruler, he shows a mad man who felt victim to his uncontrolled tempers, a mad man holding his broken dreams.

Especially for patriotic Russians the death of Ivan’s son was a disaster because it marked the beginning of the Time of Troubles a long period when Russia was invaded by foreign armies and torn by civil wars.

A French Hero

2010-01-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

Du Guesclin at the battle of Cocherel by the French painter Charles-Philippe Larivière (1798-1876).

That’s a scene from the Hundred Years War. The leader of the French forces Bertrand du Guesclin defeated at Cocherel in 1365 an Navarrese and Aquitaine army.

It’s a typical history painting of the late 19th century depicting a great event of national history. The weapons and clothes are historically very correct. Nevertheless the whole painting is pure but well done construction. There are the two adversaries staring at each other, the French triumphantly on his horse. The flying French banners and the damaged Navarrese and English ones.

Norse Mythology

2010-01-24T11:48:00.000-08:00

The construction of a national identity is normally connected with a search for the own cultural roots. Especially in northern Europe and in Germany this led to a fascination for pre Christian Nordic mythology – Wagner is only the best known example.

In Norway Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831-1892) painted historical patriotic scenes and not least the recently rediscovered Nordic gods. Most famous he became for his big painting Åsgårdsreien (1872) which pretended to show Odin’s Wild Hunt.

Because of the barbarian subject and the obscure scenery it’s still very popular serving as a kind of pre-fantasy-painting. For example it was used as cover for the album Blood Fire Death by the Swedish band Bathory.

But at a little closer look there remains not much of that pretended reanimation of Nordic traditions. The whole composition and most of the figures derive from baroque ceiling paintings. There is nothing barbarian in it, there is nothing “Nordic”, there are the same Olympic gods hunting some naked puttis or nymphs.

The thing is even more obvious regarding Arbo’s painting Valkyrien (1865).

The cruel Nordic war spirit looks neither warlike nor awesome, it’s at last a rosy baroque angel or allegory. It’s ridiculous.

The Doors of Hougomont

2010-01-18T11:36:00.000-08:00

Hougomont 1815 (1903) by the Scottish painter Robert Gibb (1845-1932).

Gibb a popular military painter depicted here the hard fighting at the doors of the farm Hougomont in the battle of Waterloo. It’s one of the typical paintings which decorated British Officers' Clubs and country houses.

Classic Saladin

2010-01-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

Saladin conquering Jerusalem (c.1830-50) by the French painter Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard (1780-1850).

Alexandre Fragonard was the son of the Rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard and a student of Jacques-Louis David. Here he depicted how the famous Muslim leader Saladin conquered Jerusalem. To show a Muslim as a hero was not so unusually for an artist in the time of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

But really remarkable are the classical costumes. Fragonard depicted the Arabs as Greek warriors, the only concession is the strange turban of Saladin.

Hunnic Raiders

2010-01-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

Hunnic raiders pillaging a Roman villa by the French painter Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse (1859-1938).

Despite being a good painter Rochegrosse earned probably the most money with the prints of his paintings which were very popular as illustrations in books and journals. Here he depicted with a lot of interesting details how a Hunnic raiding party pillaged a Roman villa probably in France. The strange scythe-like lances or the fur hats are pure invention but still nice.

Defeated Napoleon

2010-01-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

Napoleon after Waterloo by the English battle painter Robert Alexander Hillingford (1825-1904).

Napoleon returns defeated from the battlefield. He knows that he has lost all: the battle, the crown, his supporters and his freedom.

Two Adventurers

2009-12-26T00:35:00.000-08:00

Charles XII of Sweden and Ivan Mazepa after The Battle of Poltava (1880) by the Swedish painter Gustav Cederström (1845-1933).

Charles XII had waged war against many countries and some people even compared him with Alexander the Great. Finally he let his troops deep into the south of Russia, where he lost the decisive battle of Poltava which was the beginning of the end. Cederström shows here the defeated and wounded king with his ally Mazepa the Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Mazepa is pointing to the south, to Turkey where new allies could be found.
Sweden was lost but the adventure went on.

Princes in the Tower

2009-12-21T11:10:00.000-08:00

The Sons of Edward IV in the Tower (1830) by the French history painter Hippolyte Delaroche (1797-1856).

Since Shakespeare’s Richard III the story of the poor sons of Edward IV who had been murdered in the Tower had caused a lot of speculations and artwork. The cruel fate of these pretenders to the English throne had inspired especially romantic painters in the 19th century.

Theatrically Assassination

2009-12-16T00:25:00.000-08:00

Assassination of Alboin, King of the Lombards (1859) by the English painter Charles Landseer (1799-1879), the elder brother of the better-known and more successful Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873).

Landseer depicts here the Assasination of Alboin king of the Lombards and conqueror of Italy. As legend tells Alboin fell victim to a plot by his wife Rosamunde.
It’s nothing particular that Landseer is mixing here legend and reality. But what’s really strange is the unnatural posture of the persons. There is no real "action" they look like they were posing for a photograph.

The Last Grenadier

2009-12-10T00:04:00.000-08:00

The Last Grenadier of Waterloo by the French painter Horace Emile Jean Vernet (1789-1863).

Even though Vernet became famous as a battle painter this is much more a kind of symbolism. The cross with the setting sun behind and the lonesome contemplating soldier, nothing is real or had anything to do with the battlefield in the evening.

A King like a Rock

2009-12-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

Peter the Great at the Battle of the Col de Panissars (1889) by the Spanish painter Mariano Barbasán Lagueruela (1864-1924).

Barbasan depicts here the great king of Aragon stopping an French army of crusaders in the Pyrenees. Some of the Aragonese soldiers hesitate or are looking even a little scared viewing the overwhelming forces of the enemy. But the king stands firm and proud like a continuation of the rocks under his feet.
But it’s not only a well composed painting. It’s typical for the heyday of European history painting. The weapons, the chainmail, the coat of arms, all these details are historically as perfect as possible.

Marengo

2009-11-29T00:45:00.000-08:00

One of the uncountable battle paintings concerning the Napoleonic Wars by the French painter Louis-François Lejeune (1775-1848). He depicted one of Napoleons big victories.

The Battle of Marengo

Archaic Cruelty

2009-11-22T09:14:00.000-08:00

The French painter Evariste Vital Luminais (1821-1896) who preferred subjects from the barbarian period of French history depicted here a scene from the Merovingian period.

The tortured sons of Clovis (1880)

When in the absence of their father the two sons of Clovis II rebelled, their mother Bathilde had their tendons cut and sent them immobilised down the Seine where they finally reached a Benedictine monastery.

The appealing of the painting is the strong contrast between the peaceful river scene and the cruel story which is indicated by the wounded feet and the dead like bodies.

Oriental Rituals

2009-11-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

The American painter Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847-1928) was specialized in oriental subjects. Sometimes he added further a historical scenery. These two paintings underline the success of this method. The second (I don’t know which one was the first, but this doesn’t matter) is more or less a copy with some different columns and some persons more.

The Procession of the Bull Apis

The Procession of the Sacred Bull Anubis

Echoes of History

2009-11-11T08:43:00.000-08:00

Echoes of Roncesvalles (1890) by the Spanish painter Antonio Muñoz Degrain (1840-1924).

This painting refers to the battle of Roncesvalles in 778, where Charlemagne's rear guard was annihilated by the Basques. But it’s far more than the typical pseudo-realistic battle painting.

Muñoz Degrain became well known for his traditional history paintings. But later he moved to impressionism, which changed not only his way of painting but also his view on history.
Although there is a canyon with skeletons to be seen, this is obviously not Roncesvalles or at least no realistic depiction of it. The impressionist Muñoz Degrain is not interested in this. History is no portrayable, it’s covered by myths and legends. And because of that he painted only the echoes - the impression.

Norwegian King

2009-11-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

The crowning of Olav I Tryggvason of Norway (1860) by the Norwegian painter Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831-1892).

Arbo was a romantic painter who specialized in historical and mythological subjects. Here he depicted one of the greatest kings in Norwegian history. This was especially important in the 19th century when Norway was struggling for her independence from Sweden.

Female War Paintings

2009-11-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Thompson, later Lady Butler (1846-1933) was not only one of the few female painters in Victorian Britain, she was moreover probably the only female war painter. John Ruskin Britain's leading art critic at this time had the opinion "that no women could paint". After seeing Roll Call Ruskin admitted: "But it is Amazon's work, this; no doubt of it, and the first fine Pre-Raphaelite picture of battle we have had."

The Roll Call (1874)

Elizabeth Butler depicts here the exhausted soldiers after battle counting their dead and wounded. Without any doubt a great painting, bur I can not discover any Pre-Raphaelite characteristics.

Remnants of an Army (1879)

This is William Brydon arriving at the gates of Jalalabad. He was the only survivor of an army of 16,500 soldiers, which had left Kabul in January 1842.