history painting

history painting the painting of scenes from classical and Christian history and mythology. It was taught in the academies of art , from the Renaissance to the 19th cent., as the highest form of art in an hierarchical grouping that ranked still-life painting lowest on the list. Included in the category were scenes from contemporary history, such as Velázquez's Surrender at Breda, and commemorative works and apotheoses, such as Rubens's Life of Marie de' Medici. Scenes from antiquity dominated 18th-century painting, and modern subjects were exalted by treating them in classical terms. A modern work cited as falling within the history-painting tradition is Picasso's Guernica.

history painting. A term applied to pictures showing figures involved in momentous or morally edifying scenes, treated in a suitably grand and noble way. The term derives from the Italian istoria (‘story’) and is applied not only to pictures representing actual historical events but also to appropriate subjects from legend and literature. Thus scenes from the Bible, Greek mythology, Dante, or Shakespeare would usually come under the heading ‘history painting’, whereas scenes drawn from a domestic novel might be considered as genre pictures, even if set in a period before the painter's own. In conventional academic theory, history painting was considered the highest branch of art, to which the Grand Manner was appropriate. Its status derived not only from its elevated aims, but also from the fact that it was considered the most difficult branch of painting to master, involving the skilful arrangement of figures with convincing gestures and expressions. The American painters West and Copley were pioneers in painting history pictures in modern dress.

history painting. A term applied to pictures showing several figures involved in momentous or morally edifying scenes, treated in a suitably grand and noble way. The term derives from the Latin historia (‘story’ or ‘narrative’) and is applied not only to pictures representing actual historical events but also to appropriate subjects from legend and literature. Thus scenes from the Bible, Greek mythology, Dante, or Shakespeare would usually come under the heading ‘history painting’, whereas scenes drawn from a domestic novel might be considered as genre pictures, even if set in a period before the painter's own. In conventional academic theory, history painting was considered the highest branch of art, to which the Grand Manner was appropriate. Its status derived not only from its elevating aims, but also from the fact that it was considered the most difficult branch of painting to master, involving the skilful arrangement of numerous figures with convincing gestures and expressions. The American painters West and Copley were pioneers in painting history pictures in modern dress.