From the abstract world of ideas to the truest possible representation of the historical event: An introduction to historical art in the long nineteenth century

This introduction sets a framework for broadening the scope of inquiry in scoping continuities and changes in the practice of historical art over space and time during the long nineteenth century. It defines historical art in the long nineteenth century, and also contextualizes the popularization and professionalization of historical writing in relation to an increasingly industrialized, urbanized, and internationally connected modern world. Within artistic circles, history painting is considered against the context of Academic practice, as well as its perceived ‘crisis’, the turn of the middle classes to historical genre, and the critical reception of that phenomenon. Historiographical precedents are also explored in relation to historical writings about nineteenth-century historical art. It explores some of the themes in this volume which aim to demonstrate the rich, multifaceted, and kaleidoscopic nature of historical art but also encourage more thorough and complex understandings of globalized visual historicism during the long nineteenth century.