Theatrically Assassination

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.