Events and figures in art

To understand and appreciate specific events and key figures in history it is both fascinating and telling to look at how they were depicted by their contemporaries and subsequently throughout the centuries as well as by compatriots versus artists from different nations or cultures. Enjoy the seemingly endless quantity and variety of the works available to compare and analyze.

Below are just a few examples. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the rest.

Fragment of Metope in a doric Frieze - III century b.C. Soft Rock Relief depicting a Horseman Overcoming an Enemy or Alexander Fighting. From Italy - Apulia Region Magna Graecia

Alexander the Great receives Darius's message, miniature from the The History of Alexander the Great by Pseudo-Callisthenes, Parchment Codex by the scribe Nerses, Greek manuscript 424, 13th-14th Century.

Hannibal crossing the Alps, 218 BC, by Jacopo Ripanda (active ca 1500-1516), ca 1510, fresco from the Conservatories Palace, Rome. Detail. Second Punic War, Italy, 3rd century BC.

Hannibal and his war elephants crossing the Alps, 218 BC (19th century). During the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian general Hannibal led his army, including elephants, across the Alps into northern Italy to confront the Roman army.

Drawing by Michelangelo Buonarroti depicting the head of Cleopatra in a fancy hairstyle and with the snake biting her chest

Coin (Denarius) with bust of Marcus Junius Brutus (85-42BC) on the front and cap (pileus) and daggers on the back. 43-42BC, from Asia Minor

The Pope placing the crown onto Charlemagne's head as he kneels in front of him. Work by the school of Raphael

Etching of Joan of Arc in armor leading an army. From 'Gallery of the women of Shakespeare, Collection of forty five portraits engraved by the first artists of London, enriched by critical and literary notes', circa 1838

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabelle of Spain Bidding Farewell to Christopher Columbus at His Departure for the Indies in 1492. From 'Americae', part IV, 1596.. Color engraving.

Battle of Lepanto with the Madonna and Saint oil on canvas by Giulio De Rossi 1635Giustina

Fresco by Ottavio Vannini (1585-1643) Lorenzo the Magnificent shown among His Artists

Monument to Martin Luther. Detail of the base showing the debate of Leipzig where Martin Luther debates with theologian Johannes Eck with regards to the power of the Pope, freedom and indulgences.

Engraving showing Martin Luther before cardinal Gaetano, Ausburg 1518. Engraving from a painting by Wilhelm Lindenschmit (1829-1895)

Portrait of Henry VIII of England, c.1537. Oil on panel

The history of the inquisition murales by Diego Rivera. One sees soldiers, members of the church, and people put at the stake to burn.

Oil on canvas painting depicting the dead Marat. Assassinated while in the bathtub and while writing a note. Painting done in 1793 by Jaques Louis David

Liberty in the figure of a woman holding up the french flag while leading the people on the barricades. Sketch in the hemritage museum while the final painting is in the Louvre Museum. Also available throughScala. Work by Eugene Delacroix

Execution by guillotine of Louis XVI which occurred on the 21st January 1793 in Paris France. Work by anonimous from the 1790s

Goya Francisco de, Il 3 maggio 1808 a Madrid, 1814 (post restauro) , Prado, Madrid Spagna

Napoleon (1769-1821) crossing the Saint Bernard Pass, one of five versions, 1801-1802. By Jacques Louis David (1748-1825)

'The Left Wing of the British army in Action at the Battle of Waterloo, June 18th 1815'. The Battle of Waterloo was the decisive defeat for Napoleon and marked the end of his empire.

Peace Treaty of Versailles, signing of the peace treaty with Germany in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles,in the center Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau and David Lloyd George, June 28, 1919, by William Orpen

Mao Tse-Tung by Andy Warhol. Mao Tse-Tung's face is red, the background is pink and the clothes are green.One from a portfolio of ten screenprints, composition and sheet: 36 x 36' (91.4 x 91.4 cm). Published in 1972 by Castelli Graphichs and Multiples, Inc., NY. Edition: 250.

Oil painting of the bust of Martin Luther King and below it a handshake between a black and a white hand, Painting by Jean Mascii

Russian postage stamp commemorating Laika, the first animal to go into orbit. Laika was launched on 3rd November 1957.

Maze Against The Machine, 2009. Ink and Pigment on Paper, Inventory#151 Immage shows a man standing in front of a series of armored tanks. A clear reminder of the Tiananmen Square event. The image was made by Yonatan Frimer and is banned in China (PRC).

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