19th Century Post

The Battlefield at Marathon - ca 1849

(Nationalgalerie, Berlin)

Cefalu - 1830

(Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne)

Marathon - 1848

(Neue Pinakothek, Munich)

French walking dress - July 1821

from La Belle Assemblee (Bella's Court)

(Gallery of Fine Arts, London)

Death of the Cavalryman - 1818

(Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)

Soldier and Boys - ca 1840

(The Hermitage, St. Petersburg)

Albrecht Dürer on the Balcony of his House - 1854

by William Bell Scott

(National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh)

A Valentine

For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes,

Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda,

Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling lies

Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader.

Search narrowly the lines!- they hold a treasure

Divine- a talisman- an amulet

That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure-

The words- the syllables! Do not forget

The trivialest point, or you may lose your labor

And yet there is in this no Gordian knot

Which one might not undo without a sabre,

If one could merely comprehend the plot.

Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering

Eyes scintillating soul, there lie perdus

Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing

Of poets, by poets- as the name is a poet's, too,

Its letters, although naturally lying

Like the knight Pinto- Mendez Ferdinando-

Still form a synonym for Truth- Cease trying!

You will not read the riddle, though you do the best you can do.

                                                                          -Edgar Allan Poe (1846)

Morning dresses - November 1801-02

published by Nicolaus Heideloff, London

(National Gallery of Australia, Canberra)

Cathedral in Winter - 1821

by Ernst Ferdinand Oehme

(residing at Gemäldegalerie, Dresden)

Thy soul shall find itself alone

'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone --

Not one, of all the crowd, to pry

Into thine hour of secrecy:

Be silent in that solitude

    Which is not loneliness -- for then

The spirits of the dead who stood

    In life before thee are again

In death around thee -- and their will

Shall then overshadow thee: be still.

For the night -- tho' clear -- shall frown --

And the stars shall look not down,

From their high thrones in the Heaven,

With light like Hope to mortals given --

But their red orbs, without beam,

To thy weariness shall seem

As a burning and a fever

Which would cling to thee for ever :

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish --

Now are visions ne'er to vanish --

From thy spirit shall they pass

No more -- like dew-drop from the grass:

The breeze -- the breath of God -- is still --

And the mist upon the hill

Shadowy -- shadowy -- yet unbroken,

Is a symbol and a token --

How it hangs upon the trees,

A mystery of mysteries! --

                                                                                  -Edgar Allan Poe

Slave Market in Rome - ca 1884

(residing at The Hermitage, St. Petersburg)

Harem Pool - ca 1889

(residing at The Hermitage, St. Petersburg)

Duel after a Masked Ball - 1857

(residing at The Hermitage, St. Petersburg)

   The David Rumsey Map Collection website has an interesting section up on maps drawn by children in the 19th century.  It's packed with a ton of history, interesting information and so many great maps to look at.

Anonymous Student, United States - 1821

   Click on the map above to enter the David Rumsey Map Collection website where you can see more.