Cloudy Visions

Napoleon Near Moscow, Waiting for a Boyar Deputation (1891-1892) by the Russian painter Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (1842-1904). Vereshchagin depicted here Napoleon in a very symbolic way. Despite the dust clouds may be realistic they illustrate much more the treacherous illusion of Napoleons victory. There was nothing gained and soon all will be gone.

Nordic Rococo

Freja Seeking her Husband (1852) by the Swedish painter Nils Blommér (1816-1853). Blommér was greatly influenced by late German Romanticism and turned to national mythology like so many of this movement.

Here he shows the Nordic goddess of love and fertility Freya in her cart drawn by cats. Despite that’s not surprising for a Pre-Wagnerian artist, the false historical construction reveals itself by the baroque angels, who have nothing Nordic at all, so it’s much more a kind of post-rococo kitsch.

The Spirit of Russian Past

Two book illustrations by the great Russian artist Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876-1942). Bilibin was probably the most influential art nouveau illustrator in Russia. He himself studied under Ilya Repin and was later fascinated with old folkloric Russian art of the Russian North.

Despite there are many historically correct details in his illustrations he never pretended to be "realistic" like so many academic painters at this time. He tired much more to catch the spirit of Russian past.

A Bloody Struggle

Saragossa 10 February 1809 by the British painter Harold Hume Piffard (1895-1938).

Piffard depicts here the bloody struggle in a church during the siege a Saragossa. The defending Spanish priests are showing even more bloodlust than their French adversaries. And to me it seems that the priest in center is not praying peace or forgiveness, it looks much like some kind of exorcism.

Theatrical Costumes

Cover of The Saturday Evening Post 1934 by the great American artist Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951).

Sure, that’s no history painting, but Leyendecker refers to that kind of history fashion, where stuffy bourgeois went dressed up as Romans. It’s kind of the same fashion that favored painters like Waterhouse or Alma-Tadelma. There are the nice costumes and the great gestures. A really nice cartoon full of Leyendecker’s cutting irony.

Fallen from Grace

Mariamne Leaving the Judgment Seat of Herod (1887) by the British painter John William Waterhouse (1849-1917).

Mariamne I was the second wife of Herod the Great. She was famous for her beauty, but because of her conflict with Salome the sister of Herod she was finally convicted and executed in 29 BC. It’s said that Herod grieved for her for many months.

Waterhouse depicts here the queen on her way to prison and the grieving king. But more than in this story he seemed to be interested in the historical details, the marble the magnificent architecture. Academic history painting is already on its way to pure decoration.

Bold Americans

Ferdinand de Soto on the banks of the Mississippi by the American artist Herbert Moore (1881-1943). This was an illustration for the book "The Men Who Found America" by Frederick Winthrop Hutchinson (1909).

The Spanish conquistador is looking on the endless waters of the Mississippi, where he should die in 1542. The vastness of the landscape and the river underlines the courage of these men, who went so far in unknown territory. And last not least the Spaniard is here claimed as one of the forefathers of the modern US-Americans.

Kind of a Goddess

Phryne at the Festival of Poseidon in Eleusin (1889) by the Polish painter Henryk Hector Siemiradzki (1843-1902). Here a print of this popular painting

Phryne was the most famous hetaera of Ancient Greece (390-330 BC) whose beauty was compared to a goddess.

Because of her lovers she was very rich and Siemiradzki shows her here with a lot of servants and admirers. For him it was a good opportunity to depict a lot of historical costumes, items and architecture with every detail. But truth be told, above all it was a possibility to paint a beautiful woman, who is posing effectively in the center.

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.

Signing the Treaty

Signing the Treaty with the Indians (c.1890) by the American painter John Ward Dunsmore (1856-1945). Despite it’s a well done history painting, there is nothing special about it. It’s good old European academic style.

Alone and Lost in the Forest

The Chasseur in the Forest (1814) by the German painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). Despite it doesn’t look like very patriotic at first glance it’s eminently that. There is a French soldier (one of Napoleon’s occupants) lone and lost in a dark German forest. So the painting is suggesting that there are other powers than simple soldiers that will help to free Germany from her oppressors.

A National Icon

The Prophetess Libuse (1893) by the Czechoslovakian painter Karel Vitezlav Mašek (1865–1927). Libuse is the legendary founder of Prague and the ancestor of the Přemyslid dynasty and the Czech people as whole.

This Art Nouveau painting reminds of stained glass in churches and is therefore a good modern interpretation of a national myth.