Glorified paintings

[Tyrael]

It's like they weren't meant to explain the physical attributes of the subject, but the emotional awe that specific moment in history instilled in people.

My favorites:
[imgr]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Napoleon4.jpg/511px-Napoleon4.jpg[/imgr]
[imgr]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware.png[/imgr]

Anyone else have any they want to share?

 

[Static]

I am a big fan of history... The American Civil War being one of my favorite times in our (USA) short history.

From what I've read in texts, diaries, stories passed down from generations (not heard personally of course) this picture depicts when Col. Joshua Chamberlain was fighting on Little Round top with The 1st Maine....

Most of his men were out of ammo or had very little left and his flank was terribly weak... He stood up, held his sword out and called for a bayanett charge against the oncoming Confederate army.

Personally I do not think this painting is Glorified but I can recall feeling a sense of, admiration if you will, when I saw this painting. Knowing the story behind it only made the feelings more pure and special to me. Simple human courage and bravery sometimes gives me hope in humanity when I feel there is none left.

 

[Tyrael]

Absolutely; the entire gusto of the American Revolutionary War against Mother-country England was epic in my eyes; I read 1776, and it really tells the tale well.

Basically gun powder was almost near-gone when the war started; The British only lost on miraculous circumstances to an army who signed up for a year of service and required rum regularly to be statisfied. I remember one part in the book where Washington told the patriots [paraphrased]
[blockquote]I cannot do this myself; do it for your families, your crops...[/blockquote]
And one by one men joined him, as if it were a movie.


Anyway, Trumbull did many U.S. works like this
[imgr]http://www.ng.mil/Images1/today/1226.jpg[/imgr]

 

[Amantis]

I loved the Napoleon ones, but my favourite has to be the one with the Coronation of Josephine.

I saw the actual painting in the Louvre in Paris, and it's so huge, since it's a life size painting, it almost feels as though I could actually go inside and touch the people there.

- Amantis

 

[Raya Wolfsun]

Ancient Greek vase paintings, especially ones made in the Classical Period. Like this one, showing the great fight between Achilles (on the left) and Hector (on the right). (It's mythological, I know, but in the time this was made it was understood as history of sorts).

[strike]See the image here.
EDIT: Posting a link rather than the actual image because I'm not sure how this would jive with BF's policies on nudity.[/strike]
[imgr]http://academic.shu.edu/honors/achilles_hektor2.jpg[/imgr]

Now this is far from a literal representation. You're not really meant to believe that they fought each other naked except for some pithy pieces of armour. The idea is that these men were great warriors of superhuman stature, and they are portrayed without clothes to emphasise the physical impressiveness of their bodies (kind of like modern comic-book superheroes tend to have bulging muscles in skin-tight costumes). Or another way of looking at it is that the nakedness is a way of making them seem more macho: I mean, look at all those wounds on Hector (guy on the right) with the blood spilling out! It would take guts to go into a fight so minimally protected. :umm:

 

[Tyrael]

The blood squirting out is cool.


What about Henry VIII?
[imgr]http://www.art-prints-on-demand.com/kunst/hans_holbein_dj/portrait_henry_viii_1491_1547__br_hi.jpg[/imgr]
And his wives?
[imgr]http://www.ict.oxon-lea.gov.uk/best_practice/henry/The%20Wives%20of%20Henry%20VIII_title.jpg[/imgr]
Beheaded, divorced, died, beheaded, divorced, survived lol.

 

[Aurora]

And they are all ugly. Rofl.

I love the Napoleon portrait, since it shows how big of an ego that man had. He was so small that he actually had to ride a pony. Still, he was a brilliant man.

 

[Tyrael]

And they are all ugly. Rofl.

I love the Napoleon portrait, since it shows how big of an ego that man had. He was so small that he actually had to ride a pony. Still, he was a brilliant man.

An ego I like to think he deserved, given how awesomely he conquered.
And wasn't it a mule?