Feeling Things About History When I Should Be Writing My Essay About A Different Bit Of History - Tumblr Posts
There's something truly magical about late 19th century history paintings.
It's the last gasp of the French Academic style, but instead of lots of drapery and allegory, they are taking cues from the rising tide of archaeological research and forward-looking school of narrative illustration, which adds up to the first real attempts to depict the past as best they it could be imagined. These paintings have more in common with the old-(ish) National Geographic illustrations of life in ancient Knossos than they do with their contemporaries in the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
From top to bottom-
"Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle," by Henri-Paul Motte (1881)- depicts the siege by the forces of Louis XIII of France, lead by Cardinal Richelieu, against the Huguenots in the port of La Rochelle, 1627-1628
"Bringing Home the Body of King Karl XII of Sweden," by Gustaf Cederstrom (1884)- depicts the route of the Swedish army following a failed invasion of Norway that ended with the death of King Karl XII, 1718
"Zenobia's Last Look on Palmyra," by Herbert Schmalz (1888)- depicts the Palmyrene Queen Septimia Zenobia in the moments before fleeing her besieged capitol and being captured by the forces of the Roman emperor Aureliuan, 272 AD
"Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed," by Ilya Repin (1880s)- depicts the supposedly historical story of the Cossacks sending an insulting reply to an ultimatum from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed IV, 1676
"The Execution of Lady Jane Grey," by Paul Delaroche (1833)- depicts the execution of the teenaged Lady Jane Grey, who had been elevated to the throne of England and Ireland for (approx) nine days in July of 1553. Her execution was at the Tower of London in February, 1554
"The Cadaver Synod" by Jean-Paul Laurens (1870)- depicts the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus by his eventual successor Pope Stephen VI ten months after Formosus' death, 897
"Chlodobert's Last Moments" by Albert Maignan (1880)- depicts the death of the Merovingian Prince Chlodebert, son of Chilperic I, before the tomb of Saint Medard, where the prince had been brought in the hope of a miracle, 580