Beal similarly adores the finish, and the beautifully wrought details of the bowl of fruit and the sumptuous, almost tactile red and turquoise velvets of Claudius Jacquand's epic 19th-century
history painting The Young Gaston, Called the Angel of Foix (Fig.
He discusses the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855 and the crisis of grand
history painting, heroism in modern times: Duel after the Masquerade, art as a science: from l'ideal grec to the great family of mankind, the Cesar paintings: projects for a new tragic art, and layers of the past: from painting to polychrome sculpture.
"I imagine the bombshelter of these two lovers as a holodeck of possibilities, projecting the skies of romantic paintings behind them and allowing them to simulate and perform the heroic archetypes of
history painting."
As a result, confusion reigned between
history painting in the grand style and large sensationalist canvases.
Delaroche's
history paintings, on which he built his reputation, are displayed together with works by his peers in England and France, showing how
history painting both reflected contemporary culture and contributed to the mythologising of historical events.
The genre is defined by its subject matter - anything to do with the sea, but especially ships under sail - and has its roots in 19th century seascapes and
history painting of naval battles.
In other essays, however, she observes that traditional conventions of visual culture, particularly those of
history painting and religious iconography, served Free State painters well as they shed earlier stereotypes to create imagery grounded in the revolutionary violence and heroics leading to nationhood.
Nevertheless, Laurens gave the Salon community--and Lefebvre--a model of a Salon painter re-imagining academic art and the genre of
history painting. Perhaps for Lefebvre, Laurens served as a viable case of an artist creating critically successful images of notably obscure subject matter, and the narrative of Lady Godiva happened to be quite obscure for nineteenth-century French art.
In a recent London Review of Books, Hal Foster writes: "'Pop
history painting' seems almost an oxymoron." (3) He then cites only Richter and Richard Hamilton.
Though much of the Victorian legacy, from St Pancras Station to the Pre-Raphaelites, has since swung spectacularly back into favour, the same can't be said of Victorian
history painting.
In London Kauffman's circle included prominent male supporters, such as businessman George Bowles and Royal Academy president Joshua Reynolds, whose Discourses were intended to encourage a British school of
history painting. Denied access because of her gender to the cornerstone of
history painting, the life study class, Kauffman's prodigious production of works in this genre is all the more remarkable.
Boydell was trying to instill the values of
history painting, with its strong geometrical form, its condensation of energy and importance in towering figures set against epic backdrops.
