”Leonidas at Thermopylae” by Jacques-Louis David/ Year 1814

The Battle of Thermopylae pitted an alliance of Greek city-states, led by Sparta, against the Persian army under the reign of Xerxes I. It is remembered today mostly for the bravery of the Spartan leader Leonidas, who held the Persians at bay for two days by guarding the only passable road. The Persian army then discovered a path that led behind the Greek lines. Leonidas dismissed the vast majority of the army and kept only a small contingent of 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans, almost all of whom were killed. This famous image of Leonidas was created over two thousand of years later by the French court painter Jacques-Louis David.

”BELISARIUS AT THE GATES OF CONSTANTINOPLE”

BY GIOVANNI PAOLO PANINI

Type: Oil on canvas

Historical Period: Rococo-1720-1780

SubjectCapriccio: Architecture

School: Italian – Roman

”Liberty Leading the People” by Eugène Delacroix
Year 1830 / Location : Musée du Louvre France , Paris

Liberty leading the people is a painting usually associated with the July Revolution of 1830 in France. It is a large canvas showing a busty woman in the center raising a flag and holding a bayonet. She is barefoot, and walks over the bodies of the defeated, guiding a crowd around her. This is probably the most famous artwork of Delacroix, who is known as the most important artist of Romanticism

” Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII ”

by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Year 1854

Location: Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Death of Priam, 1785 by Jean-Baptiste Regnault oil/canvas .

”The Course of Empire: Destruction ” Year 1836 by
Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole

The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781 is a 1783 large oil painting by John Singleton Copley

In 1781, France invaded the Channel Island of Jersey. It was successfully defended by the British – an important victory at a time when they were failing in their war with America ( American war of Independence ) and about to lose control of their American colonies. This painting celebrates the victory and commemorates the death of Major Francis Peirson and his refusal to surrender.

Aeneas and the Sibyl in the Underworld,1630s Jan Brueghel the Younger Flemish This infernal image of the 1630s was inspired by the “hell landscapes” of Jan Brueghel the Elder which in turn looked back to Bosch. The subject is from Virgil, Aeneid, Book VI.

” The Accolade ”  by Edmund Blair Leighton . Year 1901 / oil painting

The Accolade is a finely detailed painting set in medieval times showing a beautiful red haired Queen knighting a young man. This is a very romantic painting with the fair maiden and the handsome and brave young man. The Knight is bowed at her feet in a position of obedience. To the left of the queen we can see the audience gathered to witness the knighting. They appear to be watching the lovely queen with rapt attention. There is no king on display in this painting and clearly the painter intends for our eye to focus on the beautiful queen. The picture makes one think of the famous Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot. One can easily imagine a whole background story to this painting. One has the feeling that the young queen in this painting has feelings of tenderness and even love for the young man at her feet. Most likely she is not able to act upon her feelings for this young Knight. Perhaps because the painting is so reminiscent of Lancelot and Guinevere, one can’t help but think that although they probably truly love one another, as with most good love stories they will come to a tragic end. Perhaps the young Knight is about to head off into a battle from which sadly, he will never return.

The Birth of Venus is undoubtedly one of the world’s most famous and appreciated works of art. Painted by Sandro Botticelli between 1482 and 1485, it has become a landmark of XV century Italian painting, so rich in meaning and allegorical references to antiquity.

Venus, according to the Greek poet Hesiod who wrote the Theogony, wasborn out of sea foam. Ancient mythology is filled with blood and violence and this story is not an exception. The story goes that the God Uranus had a son named Cronus who overthrew his father, castrating him and throwing his genitals into the sea. This caused the water to be fertilised, and Venus was born.

After her birth she came ashore on a shell, pushed along by the breath of Zephyrus, the god of the west wind. In the painting we see Zephyrus embracing the nymph Chloris. The girl about to cover Venus with a flowery mantle is thought to be one of the Hours. They were the mythological handmaidens of Venus who also had power over the natural cycle of the seasons. The island she arrives at is Cyprus, or Citharea.

The breath of Zephyrus was believed to have the power to fertilise and create new life. His embrace with the nymph symbolises the act of love.