Ancient ROME, Emperor NERO BURNS CHRISTIANS ON STAKES POLES ~ Old 1878 Art Print

Description: THE LIVING TORCHES OF NERO Artist:H.H. Siemiradski Note: the title In the box above is printed below the art image on the print. A HIGH QUALITY PHOTOGRAVURE PRINTED IN THE 1870'S!! PERFECT FOR FRAMING AS AN ART PRINT FOR YOUR DEN !! VERY ANTIQUE & OLD WORLD LOOKING. ITEM(s) OVER 120 YEARS OLD!! Killing was the diversion of the Roman race alone. No other great people ever made human death its artistic delight. The art-love of the Greek populace was cultivated through bloodless athletic games. They had no circus. It was reserved for the descendants of Romulus to invent Death as a theatrical effect, and to cover the south of Europe with their ponderous and indestructible circus buildings, ineffaceable memorials of their love of human blood as applied to the arts. The subject of M. Siemiradski's canvas. may be considered as the sequel of his master Piloty's " Nero Setting Fire to Rome." In the foreground of that famous picture Piloty represented the unhappy Christians bound to the crucificial trees, in an arbitrary punishment for the crime the odious emperor chose to lay to their charge. His pupil develops the cruel theme, and shows the Christians tied to stakes, and set on fire in their bituminous envelopes, to illuminate the gardens of the Golden House. There is historical authority for the representation; and Renan has examined with exhaustive scrutiny the classical allusions which prove that under the rule of that misguided playwright the city criminals were often executed in such a manner as to represent catastrophes from the old drama. The conflagration of Troy, the insult of Ajax to Cassandra, the dismemberment of Dirce by a wild bull, were among the literary themes which passed through the tyrant's disordered brain as susceptible of theatrical representation. Renan has even discovered and published a Roman work of art showing the death of Dirce, in which the arrangement of the accessory landscape proves that it was the delineation of a theatrical scene. Every event took with Nero a dramatic form, insomuch that in killing his mother he compared himself to Orestes, and affected afterwards to be haunted by the AEschyleann Furies. The subject fished out of the classic historians by our Russian artist is certainly an excellent one, and as his enormous canvas rises before the visitor it is impossible to repress a feeling of admiration and horror. The energy, the command of composition, are here: if we are disposed to demand more of pathos, a greater personal elevation in the character of these victims of a sublime faith, we must be content with the great pictorial talent shown us, and not clamor for too much. The disciple has already surpassed his master, Piloty; he is yet in the dawn of youth. Let us thank him for the grand page he has already written for us, and hope that as time rolls on he will confer on us subjects which will exceed our very ideal. Groups of the most remarkable originality and supremest technical success are scattered over the vast tableau, on which the themes are so crowded that we have to search minutely for these triumphs of manipulation, amid the bewilderment of a grand dramatic impression d'ensembde. The conception of this thronging Roman population, indifferent, surfeited with sensations, among which a few faces of women alone betray a stupor mingled with pity, was the conception of a spirit which thinks profoundly, and knows. SIZE: Image size in inches is 5 ¼ " x 10", overall page size is 10" x 15". CONDITION: Good condition. Nothing printed on reverse. Thick rag stock paper. Actual picture is much larger and crisper than this scanned image shows. SHIPPING: Buyers to pay for shipping/handling. Domestic orders receives priority mail, international orders receive regular mail. We pack properly to protect your item! An engraving is an intaglio process of printing, with the design to be produced is cut below the surface of the plate (made of copper, steel or wood), and the incised lines are filled with ink that is then transferred to paper. The portraits on our currency are good examples of engraved images. A Photogravure is an intaglio process in which the plate is produced photographically. Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, heliogravure, lithograph, line drawing, photogravure etc. ALL refer to images PRINTED on paper AT THE DATE MENTIONED. VERY RICH, THREE DIMENSIONAL IMAGE! A RARE FIND! NOT A MODERN REPRODUCTION!

Price: 19.99 USD

Location: New Providence, New Jersey

End Time: 2024-09-11T21:34:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 9.95 USD