History Painters deal with the narrative of historical events from classical and military history, Christian history and mythology, as well as religious and literary subjects. History Painting was a very important genre in the past. The term "history painting" derives from the Italian word "istoria". It was the dominant form of academic painting in the 19th century; ranked number 1 in the hierarchy of the genres by European academies of fine art.
Up until the latter years of the nineteenth century, the highest level of prestige a painter could hope to attain was the exalted art of painting history. [1]
Dante and Virgil in Hell by Eugene Delacroix (1822).
Some famous history painters include: Michelangelo, Titian, Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, Claude Lorrain, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Francisco de Goya, Jacques-Louis David, William Turner, Eugene Delacroix, Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema and Benjamin Constant.
Some famous American painters: Gilbert Stuart, John Trumbull, Thomas Sully, John Singleton Copley, Emmanuel Leutze, Edward Savage and Benjamin West.
Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emmanuel Leutze, 1850.