One Brave Man

The_Agitator_of_Languedoc by the French painter Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921). Laurens shows here Bernard Délicieux was a Franciscan friar who resisted the Inquisition in Carcassonne and Languedoc in southern France. At last he was put on trial because of obstructing the Inquisition tortured and sentenced to life in prison in solitary confinement.

Religios fanatism was one of the great subjects of Laurens.

A Macabre Episode

The Cadaver Synod (1870) by the French painter Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921). Laurens shows here one of the most bizarre episodes  of the medieval history. In 897 a  posthumos trial was conducted against the dead Pope Formosus therefore removed from his tomb.

Facing Death

The Last moments of Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico by the French painter Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921).

Laurens shows here the farewell of Maximilian before his execution. Different from his friends he’s the only one showing real strength, he’s going to die like an Emperor.

Late Academic Painting

The Excommunication of Robert the Pious (1875) by the French painter Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921).

Laurens was the last of the great French history painters. Excellent skilled by his academic studies he preferred anticlerical subjects.