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.