As Europe slid into the Dark Ages, one king emerged to rule much of what is now France, with one religion, a code of law, and its capital in Paris.
history
In the first skirmish outside Jerusalem, Tancred meets the beautiful Clorinda and almost kills her before declaring his love. Armida tries to beguile Godfrey with a tale of woe.
The crusaders start their march down the Mediterranean coast towards Jerusalem. Gabriel appears to Godfrey, and a young couple are saved from being burned at the stake by a ‘pagan’ woman knight.
The Crusaders marched quickly down the Mediterranean coast, then turned inland to the Holy City, which they put under siege.
From Pope Urban the Second’s sermon in central France, to the departure from Antioch, an account of this extraordinary war in paintings and engravings.
Scenes from literary sources including Faust, and Dante’s Inferno, then in the 1850 his style becomes less dark, with lucent colour.
Contemporary of Géricault and Delacroix, he had an interest in mediaeval history, and was intimately involved in politics, including the accession of King Louis-Philippe to the throne in 1830, and the Greek War of Independence.
Biography to the death of Darius the King of Persia, with superb paintings by Degas, Elisabetta Sirani, Altdorfer, Jan Brueghel the Elder, and more.
A glimpse into the fascinating story of Pompey, one of Rome’s most successful military commanders, who was murdered off the coast of Egypt when a fugitive from his father-in-law, Caesar.
The story of a Renaissance city-state on Sardinia, a good mother, and the state funeral of a great Greek general on Sicily – some of the paintings shown.
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