Illustrating Books

With Cortes the conqueror (1917), by Virginia Watson. The book was illustrated by the great American artist Frank Earle Schoonover (1877-1972). Schoonover studied under Howard Pyle.

Sweet Kitsch

Too Late (1884) by the British painter Herbert Gustave Carmichael Schmalz (1856-1935). A Greek hero comes back from war but his great love, the princess or the queen has died. Sweet cheesy drama!

Good old Times

The City Gate by the English painter Ralph Hedley (1848-1913). Headley was a realist painter, woodcarver and illustrator, best known for his paintings portraying scenes of everyday life.

Advertising with History

Making Palmolive 3,000 Years Ago (1920) by the Hungarian-born artist Willy Pogany (1882-1955). Pogany was a prolific illustrator of children's, magazines, further he did advertising and murals.

Decadent Rome

Bacchanal (1890) by the Croation painter Mato Celestin Medović (1857-1893). A well done painting about roman decadence. This subject was very popular in the late 19^th century.

Vae Victis

An illustration by the French artist Paul Lehugeur (1854-1932?) for “Histoire de France en cent tableaux”, Paris, 1886. There is the Gaul chieftain Brennus weighing the Roman ransom money in 387 BC. According to Livy, during a dispute over the weights used to measure the gold, Brennus threw his sword onto the scales and uttered the famous words "Vae victis!", which translates to "woe to the conquered!"

Kind of Fairy Tale

Le droit du Seigneur (1874) by the Russian painter Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (1844-1927). It's highly probale that this medieval right ever existed. Nevertheless the artist made up a real spectacle where an old man brings his young daughters to their feudal lord.

Founding of a Nation

The Discovery of Chile by Diego de Almagro (1913) by the Chilean painter Pedro Subercaseaux Errázuriz (1880-1956). This event is sometimes considered as the foundation of Chile. To celebrate it this mural decorates the walls of the former National Congress of Chile in Santiago.

A Wounded Hero

Marshal Jean Lannes wounded at the battle of Essling by the French painter Paul-Emile Boutigny (1853-1929).Lannes was one of Napoleon's most daring and talented generals an a personal friend of the emperor. In the bloody battle of Aspern-Essling he was mortally wounded.

Historical Moment

The capitulation of Granada, Boabdil confronts Ferdinand and Isabella (1882) by the Spanish artist Francisco Pradilla y Ortiz (1848-1921). The painting of this important event decorates know the Palace of the The Senate of Spain in Madrid.

Idyllic Court Scene

Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester (1865) by the British painter William Frederick Yeames (1835-1918). Yeames preferred these idyllic scenes from the good old times.

Harem Guard

The Harem Guard by the Czech painter Rudolf Weisse (1869-1930). Despite it's not a decidedly history painting the whole oriental exotic setting suggests a far away place even in history.