History Painting
as formulated in 1667 by André Félibien, a historiographer,
architect and theoretician of French classicism, was in the
hierarchy of genres considered to be the grand genre.
History oil painting is the oil painting of scenes from classical
and Christian history and mythology, as well as depicting the
historical events of the near past. These include oil paintings
with religious, mythological, historical, literary, or allegorical
subjects--they embodied some interpretation of life or conveyed a
moral or intellectual message. The historical events chosen would
be iconographic, not only depicting important events, but ones of
particular significiance to the painter's society, as for instance,
the signing of the Declaration of Independance in American history
painting. The event, if suitable, does not need to have actually
occured, and artists have frequently taken great liberties with
historical facts in order to portray the message desired.
The gods and goddesses from the ancient mythologies represented
different aspects of the human psyche, figures from religions
represented different ideas, and history, like the other sources,
represented a dialectic or play of ideas. For a long time,
especially during the French Revolution, history oil painting often
focused on depiction of the heroic male nude; though this waned
into the 19th century.
Other artists depicted scenes, regardless of when they occured, in
classical dress. When, in 1770, Benjamin West proposed to depict
"The Death of General Wolfe" in contempory dress, he was firmly
instructed to use classical attire by many people. He did depict
the scene in clothing that had occured on the scene. Although
George III refused to purchase the work, he succeeded both in
overcoming his critics' objections and inaugurating a more
historically accurate style in such oil painting.
In the mid-nineteenth-century there arose a style known as
historicism, which marked a formal imitation of historical styles
and/or artists.
Another development in the nineteenth century was the blending of
this genre with that known as genre oil painting: the depiction of
scenes of everyday life. Grand depictions of events of great public
importance were supplemented with scenes depicting more personal
incidents in the lives of the great, or the everyday life in
historical settings. The oil painting artists who depicted them
sometimes connected the change with the moral messages conveyed by
the public events; they asserted that moral messages were also
instructive in the ordinary life, and indeed, were even superior
because more people would be able to apply the lesson implicit in a
depiction of family life than in one of a heroic death on the
battle field.
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