Anton Alexander von Werner was a German painter known for his history paintings of notable political and military events in the Kingdom of Prussia.
Self portrait (1885)
The Proclamation of the German Empire (3rd version; 1885)
Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm Contemplating the Corpse of French General Abel Douay (1888)
A Billet Outside Paris (1894)
History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often Greek and Roman mythology and Bible stories, opposed to a specific and static subject, as in portrait, still life, and landscape painting. The term is derived from the wider senses of the word historia in Latin and histoire in French, meaning "story" or "narrative", and essentially means "story painting". Most history paintings are not of scenes from history, especially paintings from before about 1850.
Diana and Actaeon, Titian, 1556–1559, a classic history painting, showing a dramatic moment in a mythological story, with elements of figure painting, landscape painting and still-life.
Judas Returning the Thirty Silver Pieces by Rembrandt, 1629.
Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii, 1786, with a scene from ancient history.
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, Agnolo Bronzino, c. 1545. According to André Félibien allegory was the highest form of all history painting.
