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.
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!
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.
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.
History painting dates back to the Renaissance and was long considered to be the "grand genre". Nevertheless it has its peak in the 19th century forged by Neoclassicism and Romanticism. There it became the artistic contribution in the process of the construction of National Identities of the European and American nations.
At the same time history painting under the influence of historism pretended to be "realistic", to show history how it has been. Above all it was this pretension that led to the great failure of History painting AND Realism at the end of the century.
When artists and their public realized that telling history always will be subjective and a painting will always be an illusion Realism and history painting lost their ground to modern painting.