Celtic Raiders

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.

Archaic Cruelty

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.

Celtic Heroes

With growing nationalism for many European nations came the interest in their barbarian past. A good example is the French painter Evariste Vital Luminais (1821-1896), who had success with Merovingian, Viking and above all Celtic warriors.

Nothing about the great defeats. Here he is showing how the Celts are plundering Italy. In the background is decoratively burning a temple (though I doubt that temples will burn like this).

The booty consists once more in beautiful women - good old 19th century fashion!

Viking Raids

The interest for their barbarian past awakend relatively late in the europeans. First artists were interested in greeks and romans. And when they painted barbarians, they painted them like romans in costumes.
But at the end of the 19th century there were a raising interest in nordic and celtic warriors.
Here two examples.
The first is by the british painter Edward Matthew Hale (1852-1924) and is called "After the Raid" (1892). It shows viking raiders with their human booty.
The second is by the french painterEvariste Vital Luminais (1821-1896) and is called "Norman Pirates" (1897). The subject is similar.

Shure that the vikings were interested in beautiful women and rape was a common practice. But we dont think that the booty were always naked. This is without question a concession to the art market of the 19th century (more about nude-painting in that time).
The naked booty is for the art-buyer not for the viking!!