Imagine we could stand outside the walls of Troy or see Apollo appear on his four-horse sun chariot. Oh, but we can…thanks to the Albertina’s Gods, Heroes and Traitors exhibition of history art.
- Highlights from around 1800
- Drawn from the in-house collection
- Around 74 works
- Strong focus on motifs from mythology
- Runs Jun 2 to Aug 22, 2023
- See also:
- Albertina overview & info
- Current art exhibitions in Vienna
History in art
(Bartolomeo Pinelli, The fight between Eteocles and Polynices, date unknown; Kreide; Feder in Grau; grau und braun laviert; press photo courtesy of and © ALBERTINA, Wien)
Ah, history painting. Another term the art world uses in its continuing efforts to expose my ignorance.
Not, as I once thought, strictly representations of history, but works that capture a moment in a story. Perhaps some classical, mythological or religious narrative, though historical events also proved valid subjects towards the end of a long reign as the very highest form of painting.
Many of the superb works from the Renaissance through to the early 19th century fall into the category. History painting as platinum level art. As the ultimate demonstration of an artist’s mastery of composition and emotion.
The Albertina’s Gods, Heroes and Traitors exhibition draws on the in-house collection to present numerous fine examples of the genre from its pinnacle in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Whereby the remit covers works on paper; drawings and watercolours.
In essence, we travel twice through time.
We witness stories past. But the exhibition itself might well have appeared some 200 years ago when Albert von Sachsen-Teschen bought and stored these very works. (The duke laid the basis for today’s Albertina collection.)
(Angelika Kauffmann, Tancred baptising Clorinda, 1770s; Feder und Pinsel in Braun, weiße Deckfarbe; press photo courtesy of and © ALBERTINA, Wien)
Most of the pictures tackle themes and scenes from mythology.
We see, for example, Jacques-Louis David’s 1776 rendering of the Combat of Diomedes, hero of the Trojan war. The same artist famously captured Napoleon at the St. Bernhard Pass on canvas; one of those paintings hangs at Upper Belvedere.
Or we view Pinelli’s version of a scene from the Oedipus story, where the brothers Eteocles and Polynices kill each other in a fight over the Theban throne. (It’s not all fun, games and wooden horses in Greek tales.)
We have one or two religious narratives, too, as in the portrayal of the baptism of the dying Saracen warrior Clorinda by Swiss-born Angelika Kauffmann, one of the founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts.
(The Clorinda scene comes from Jerusalem Delivered, an epic poem by Torquato Tasso from the late 1500s that tells a largely invented story of the First Crusade.)
We also learn plenty, particularly about the history and reasoning behind the exalted status of this branch of art. For example, its role at the time in projecting moral messages or encouraging particular human qualities in the viewer.
Greek and Roman mythology offered fertile ground for moral posturing, of course. (One moral message being it’s not a great idea to kill your father and marry your mother.)
All-in-all, a chance to immerse ourselves in great moments (possibly real, but mostly imagined), crafted by the hands of great artists.
Dates, tickets & tips
Enjoy Gods, Heroes and Traitors from June 2nd to August 22nd, 2023. A valid entrance ticket for or from the Albertina includes the exhibition.
For more history art, walk across to the picture galleries of the Kunsthistorisches Museum for painted equivalents and such joys as Bruegel’s The Tower of Babel or Rubens’ The Head of Medusa. (And many more of their kind.)
How to get there
Follow the travel tips on the main Albertina page.
Address: Albertinaplatz 1, 1010 Vienna