Centuries Archive

Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581 by Ilya Repin

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December 24, 201319th Century History Painting WesternNo comments

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Ivan the terrible of Russia, living up to his nickname even killed his elder son also named Ivan while having a quarrel over some family as well as military issues and disagreements between them. The history painting is painted by the highly known Russian painter Ilya Repin from 19th century who enjoyed fame in Russian paintings similar to Leo Tolstoy enjoyed in his art of fine literature. The subject unveils one of the most powerful Tsars of Russia and also the first Tsar who enjoyed the title of being “Tsar of All the Russias” for having the largest empire in his time. Firstly, acquiring the political and authorial skills being the Grand Prince of Moscow, he ascended to be the Tsar of Russia from 1547 […]

Lesbia by John Reinhard Weguelin

By Nitin

December 12, 201319th Century Portrait Painting WesternNo comments

(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

Lesbia is a word making us musing about the contemporary similar sounding word of Lesbian. Although, in the Greek history both words are related at a point, the word Lesbia comprises much more history in it than the shallow modern meaning of the word connected with it. There are two ways in history which leads us to the origin of the word Lesbia and also the woman called Lesbia depicted here. And both ways are connected to each other to some extent. First is the Greek poet Sappho (630 BCE – 570 BCE). She was born on the island of Lasbos, and some historians claims that the modern word Lesbian derives from there as Sappho wrote some poems relating to women’s love of that island. […]

The Flagellants by Pieter van Laer

By Nitin

December 12, 201317th Century Genre Painting WesternNo comments

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The two people in white robes with their backs wounded by their own torture pulled on themselves are called the Flagellants – the ones who torture themselves for their religious beliefs. It was a common practice Europe in around 13th and 14th century. People revered and honored them until the followers of Flagellantism aroused beyond the expectations of Roman Catholic Church and the Church denounced them heretics. After that the followers of the Flagellantism declined and people also started to ignore such self-harming religious persons. Their popularity declined drastically, though, even today, in different cultures flagellantism in different forms of self-harming exists. Whether it is the women’s self-harming in native African tribes or the 10th day of Muharram on which Muslims beat themselves in the […]

The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn

By Nitin

December 2, 201317th Century History Painting WesternNo comments

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The most famous paintings in the world generally haven’t been found with any major historical events (except The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci and The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo). The subjects of most such paintings have been a portrait of a rich woman or a girl, a group or a portrayal of a landscape. The subject was nothing in particularly that much adorned or famous or important at the time those painting were being created. The subject got famous after the spectacular paintings by the painter got revealed towards the world and more importantly the unique features of those paintings which helped those paintings becoming famous. The represented painting, The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn, doesn’t fit in the category. The subject […]

The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

By Nitin

August 12, 201319th Century Landscape Painting WesternNo comments

(4 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

An inspiration for many, this painting has become Van Gogh’s most famous art work of all time as it has appeared in many TV shows and a movie. Van Gogh painted it while being in a room of Saint Remy’s. Nevertheless, as many people believe that it is literal depiction of the outer view from the windows of the room, the truth is Van Gogh did many displacement and add-ons to the scene to make it more perfect. The village and the blue sky are true to the real nature and there is no mention about any changes (as he did change the location of a constellation in his previous painting Starry Night over the Rhone). But the cypress is totally added and the mountain […]