Finding Moses

Pharoah's daughter finds Moses (1886) by the British painter Edwin Longsden Long. This is a very traditional subject in art history and lots of painters made a version of that story. What's relatively new is the historical exotic touch. Long traveled to Syria and Egypt and was specialized in oriental paintings.

A Female Butcher

After the murder (1882) by the British painter John Collier (1850-1934). Collier depicted here Clytemnestra the wife of king Agamemnon. She killed her husband in the bath after he had returned from the Trojan war. But probably she got her reason. Agamemnon had sacrificed her daughter Iphigenia and brought for himself a new wife as a trophy from the war. Probably Collier got the same opinion because he shows her with an axe not with the usual dagger, so she looks strong and pround.

A British Hero

The Duke of Wellington at Waterloo by the British battle painter Robert Alexander Hillingford (1825-1904). Hillingford did a whole series of Waterloo paintings. Here he shows the Duke of Wellington encouraging one of his famous infantry squares the backbone of the British army then.

Faded Laurels

Faded Laurels (1889) by the British painter Edmund Blair-Leighton (1853-1922). Beautiful cheesy middle ages, could also be a scene from the Lord of the Rings.

CinemaScope Painting

Across the Brazos by the great American artist Robert McGinnis (born 1926). McGinnis did over 1200 paperback book covers and movie posters. Here is a good example how the newly invented CinemaScope format also influenced the formats of paintings.