Pleading for Compassion

Priamus at the Feet of Achilles pleading for the Body of Hector (1876) by the French painter Joseph Wencker (1848-1919). Despite the story nowadays is mostly forgotten it was a very popular subject in the 18th and 19th century. The old king softening the heart of the harsh and bitter hero.

Classical Exploitation

Summer Bath at Pompeii (1876) by the French painter Gustave Clarence Rodolphe Boulanger (1824-88). The classical scenery here is a mere smokescreen to present a bunch of stretching nudes.

Leftovers of an Army

French retreat in 1812 by the Russian painter Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov (1840 –1894). Here some poor survivors of the once so proud "Grande Armée" are walked to prison by poorly armed Russian peasants.

A Classical Mother

Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi (1785) by the Swiss/Austrian painter Maria Anna Angelica Catharina Kauffmann. As a women Kauffmann painted here a female heroine, Cornelia who was considered responsible for the education of her sons who became later very important politicians.