Sacred Act

Druids cutting the mistletoe (1900) by the French history painter Henri-Paul Motte (1846-1922). Today it looks much more like a fantasy scene from the Lord of the Rings, but then many people thought that their past may have looked like this.

A Tragically Capitulation

Vercingétorix surrendering to Caesar (1886) by the French history painter Henri-Paul Motte (1846-1922).

The proud Gallic chieftain is leaving the besieged Alesia in 52 BC to surrender to the Romans. Motte depicted here a national hero surrendering to a foreign superior machinery of war. So it’s probably a reference to the French capitulation to the Prussians in 1871.

The Siege of La Rochelle

The French Henri-Paul Motte (1846-1922) was a student of the famous Gérôme and became a very experienced history painter, whose paintings were frequently as illustrations in books and magazines.
Here he depicts the great Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle the last Huguenot stronghold in France. To block the seaward access to the city Richelieu ordered a long fortified seawall to be build.

Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle (1881)