Victorious Return

Les Corsaires 1806 by the French military painter Maurice Orange (1867-1916). A French privateer has captured a British ship. Now the men are returning in triumph with their prisoners, the conquered ship, the flag and rich spoils.

Patriotic Students

The students march out to defend Copenhagen during the 1658 siege (1889) by the Danish painter Vilhelm Jacob Rosenstand (1838-1915).

A Broken Heart

Napoleons Farewell To Josephine by the British painter Laslett John Pott (1837-1898). Normally Pott was more specialized in military scenes but here he depicted the great hero on a romantic battlefield.

Historical Pin-Up

Cleopatra as a kind of pin-up by the American artist Victor Tchetchet (1891-1974). Tchetchet was a famous pin-up calendar and cover artist working for magazines like American Weekly, Liberty, Master Detective, Photoplay.

Dramatic Action

The death of Simon de Montort by the French artist Alphonse de Neuville (1835-1885). This book illustration was done for Guizot's History of France. Simon de Montort was the cruel leader in the Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade (1209–1229) an was killed during the siege of Toulouse on 25 June 1218 smashed by a stone from a mangonel, operated by the women of Toulouse.

A Striking Ceremony

An Egyptian Feast by the British painter Edwin Longsden Long (1829-1891). A colorful, exotic scenery, using the latest archaeological and historical insights.

Guarapes

The Second Battle of Guararapes by the Brazilian painter Victor Meirelles (1832-1903). The Second Battle of Guararapes was the second and decisive battle in the war between the Dutch West India Company and Portuguese forces in 1649, ending the Dutch occupation of the Portuguese colony of Brazil.

Patriotic Victory

Andreas Hofer after his victory of Bergisel (1900) by the Austrian artist Franz von Defregger (1835-1921). Defregger depicts here members the Tirolean militias in their uprising against the Napoleonic oppression. It's the people in arms, very popular at the eve of World War I.

A Proud Nude

Isabelle and Orleans (1938) by the great Australian artist Norman Lindsay (1879-1969). The French Princess Isabella of Valois (1387-1410) was the daughter of King Charles VI. Her childhood marriage at the age of eight to Richard II of England sought peace between the two counties. Following Richard's grisly murder, Henry IV tried to marry her off to his son, the future Henry V of Agincourt fame. Isabella refused and eventually returned to France, where she married Charles, Duke of Orléans at Compiègne in 1406. The marriage, however, was brief, Isabella dying in her early twenties giving birth to their daughter, Joan.

Epic Battle

The battle of Salamis by the German romantic painter Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Theodor Kaulbach (1822-1839). Even the gods are taking arms in this legendary battle between Orient and Okzident.

Art Nouveau Knights

Another powerful and elegant illustrations by the Austrian Art Nouveau painter Carl Otto Czeschka (1878-1960) done for an edition of "Die Nibelungen" (1909).

Old Comrades

Another Waterloo battle scene by the French battle painter Joseph Louis Hippolyte Bellange (1800-1866). An old greandier tries to comfort a dying comrade.