You prefer historical paintings of romanticists, which indicates wide erudition, and a very peculiar vision of the role of a personality in history. You place a lot of value and hope in the power of a single person. Stories of the past inspired artists of different styles – classicists, realists, symbolists – you name it. Each style, however…

has a very distinct philosophical, ethical and aesthetic principles that govern the selection of subjects to depict. Classicists, for instance, saw the world as an organized system ruled by the universal order, the mastermind, the moral imperative. And so, characters in classicist paintings are people who follow the universal law to the letter, who will always choose order over chaos and freedom, who place duty far over personal interests. In historical scenes of classicists you will see struggle between individual ambitions, desires and feelings on the one hand, and the morale and the common good on the other hand, and the latter will always have the upper hand.

It’s all different with romanticism. They chose in favor of a personality, a man with his unique individual traits, strivings and passions. Napoleon was their favorite, of course. Romanticists paid homage to strong and remarkable people – military commanders, politicians, adventurers, rebels, people who are free of the chains of public opinion and morals, free of the limits imposed by duties and laws. Historical paintings of romanticists depict people and events that undermine the very basic principles of freedom suppression produced by the society and imposed on itself; they are people and events that change the course of history – be it one country, the whole world or a single family. Historical pieces of romanticists feature an intricately dynamic composition riddled by numerous details and figures swirling in a chaotic dance that after a closer look turn to convey the romantic harmony a man experiences when struggling with the time, the society or with oneself. The colour palette is bright and saturated, with strong violent colour contrasts explicitly revealing the intensity of emotions charging the canvases. And of course, the brown rules it all – with romanticists the brown is the patina of time, the noble colour that symbolizes the flow of time, the slow but irreversible march of history, which is yet more powerful in the genre of historical paintings.