Merry Old Times

Bacci Ball (1880) by the Italian painter Ludovico Marchetti (1853-1909). Marchetti was specialized in sweet scenes settled in the Orient or in an innocent past, in this case mostly early 18th century.

Good Old Days

A Musical Interlude (1903) by the French artist Adolphe Alexandre Lesrel (1839-1929). Lesrel did a really good job, costumes, gowns, architecture, and furniture, all is well researched and perfectly painted. But nevertheless it demonstrates only the hollowness of academic art at the beginning of the 20th century.