Share 19th-century adventure art (not cowboys or steampunk)?

[Shipyard Locked]

I'm scrounging for inspiration and direction. Anyone got some cool 19th-century* art lying around? Preferably images full of adventure and derring do but not cowboys and steampunk. Nothing wrong with those two, but they're already easy to come by. I'm thinking more... European.

* Either made in the 19th century or modern pieces depicting 19th-century settings.

 

[Agemegos]

I plucked the name of a 19th-century adventure writer out of the dim recesses, and did an image search on "Rider Haggard illustrated". That turned up stuff like this:

and book covers that you might find useful.

Doing the same with Conan Doyle got this:

And with "Robert Louis Stevenson illustrated" I got a webpage including all the original illustrations to Treasure Island:

The first illustrations for Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson

robert-louis-stevenson.org

"Prisoner of Zenda illustrated" got richer pickings than "Anthony Hope illustrated", but the latter did give me this:

 

[Agemegos]

Do photographs of real-life adventure float your boat?

 

[Shipyard Locked]

Do photographs of real-life adventure float your boat?

They do, but they are relatively easy to find. What I'm having trouble with is illustrations, action pieces created for classic or modern stories of the era, without steampunk or the wild west.

 

[Kobayashi]

Look for Gustave Doré's illustrations of course. Edouard Riou as well.

 

[Necrozius]

Look for Gustave Doré's illustrations of course. Edouard Riou as well.

I was about to say the same thing. Look up Doré’s paintings: they’re truly epic and inspiring (although seeing one in person, as I did last week, was a whole other experience in awe and wonder).


This one in real life is incredible (sorry for the crappy jpeg, the real thing is astounding in contrast, mood and detail).

 

[Agemegos]

Are Australian bush rangers too much like cowboys? Here's Tom Roberts' Bailed Up!



There's an extensive genre of British battle paintings purporting to depict famous 19th-century actions in India and Africa. Most of them undistinguished muddles of figures and horses with no composition to speak of, but some are striking. Is that the sort of adventure you want?

 

[Shipyard Locked]

Is that the sort of adventure you want?

Sure.

I've been resistant to post an example of "almost what I want" because I don't want to constrain or guide people's suggestions, but here's one. So things like this, but without cowboys and steampunk (and without the generic fantasy stuff, obviously):

Spoiler: Large image

EDIT: Another "kind of like this but without the steampunk" example:

Spoiler: Large image

 

[sdmsec]

 

[TristramEvans]

Albert Lynch - The Jolly Boat by TS Evans, on Flickr

Alexey Bogolyubov Алексей Боголюбов (1845) Capturing of-Swedish Frigate Venus by Russian Merkuriy by TS Evans, on Flickr

Alexey Bogolyubov Алексей Боголюбов (1850) Shipwreck by TS Evans, on Flickr

Alexey Bogolyubov Алексей Боголюбов - Battle of Sinop by TS Evans, on Flickr

Carl Friedrich Lessing 1851 Schuetzen_am_Engpass_anagoria by TS Evans, on Flickr

 

[TristramEvans]

Carl Friedrich Lessing Landschaft by TS Evans, on Flickr

Carl Gustav Carus (1839) Erinnerung an Rom by TS Evans, on Flickr

Carl Spitzweg (1850) Es war einmal (Der strickende Vorposten) by TS Evans, on Flickr

Carl Spitzweg (1860) Der strickende Vorposten (The knitting outpost) by TS Evans, on Flickr

Carl Spitzweg (1860) Verdächtiger Rauch (Suspicious smoke) by TS Evans, on Flickr

 

[TristramEvans]

Caspar David Friedrich Der_Wanderer_über_dem_Nebelmeer by TS Evans, on Flickr

Caspar David Friedrich Sailing Ship by TS Evans, on Flickr

Caspar David Friedrich chalk-cliffs-on-r-gen by TS Evans, on Flickr

Caspar David Friedrich day four by TS Evans, on Flickr

Caspar David Friedrich der-morgen by TS Evans, on Flickr

 

[PrivateEye]

I recommend going here, on the Forgotten Futures website and downloading the contents of the old CD-Rom. It has masses of stuff from the 19th and early 20th century, including loads of art - and of course a nice rpg, wordbooks and adventures

 

[TristramEvans]

Charles Leickert02 by TS Evans, on Flickr

Charles Leickert05 by TS Evans, on Flickr

Cornelis Springer (1844) Along the Canal by TS Evans, on Flickr

Cornelis Springer (1845) Montelspran by TS Evans, on Flickr

Cornelis Springer (1846) Cathedral by TS Evans, on Flickr

Cornelis Springer (1850) Den Haag by TS Evans, on Flickr

Cornelis Springer (1872) Franeker by TS Evans, on Flickr

Cornelis Springer - Choppy Sea by TS Evans, on Flickr

David Roberts - Approach of the Simoon at Giza by TS Evans, on Flickr

David Roberts - Column Hall of the Temple at Karnak by TS Evans, on Flickr

 

[TristramEvans]

Francisco Goya - Deathbed of an Impenitent by TS Evans, on Flickr

Francisco Goya - Duel with Cudgels by TS Evans, on Flickr

Francisco Goya - Maria Teresa De Vallabriga On Horseback by TS Evans, on Flickr

Francisco Goya - Monk Pedro de Zaldivia Shoots the Bantid Maragato by TS Evans, on Flickr

Francisco Goya - Pilgrimage to San Isidro by TS Evans, on Flickr

Francisco Goya - Second Of May 1808 (Charge of the Mameluks) by TS Evans, on Flickr

 

[TristramEvans]

Francisco Goya - Tintern Abbey by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church (1848) Rutland Falls by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church (1852) Natural Bridge by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church (1855) by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church (1855) The Andes by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church (1859) Heart of the Andes by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church (1861) The Icebergs by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church (1862) Cotopaxi by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church (1864) Chimborazo by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church (1866) Rainy Season in the Tropics by TS Evans, on Flickr

 

[TristramEvans]

Frederic Edwin Church (1891) Der Eisberg by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederic Edwin Church - Wreck by TS Evans, on Flickr

Frederick Judd Waugh - The Buccaneers by TS Evans, on Flickr

Gibb Robert - The Thin Red Line of 1854 (1881) by TS Evans, on Flickr

Ivan Aivazovsky battle-of-cesme-at-night-1848 by TS Evans, on Flickr

 

[Shipyard Locked]

Some very nice pieces TristramEvans, but some of them don't look very set-in-the-19th-century, just made then.

 

[TristramEvans]

Some very nice pieces TristramEvans, but some of them don't look very set-in-the-19th-century, just made then.

I was very careful, they are all set in the 19th century. Skipped over any battle or scene not specifically from the 1800s.

 

[Shipyard Locked]

I was very careful, they are all set in the 19th century. Skipped over any battle or scene not specifically from the 1800s.

Forgive me, it's my bias toward the late 19th century affecting my perception.

 

[TristramEvans]

Forgive me, it's my bias toward the late 19th century affecting my perception.

No worries, I only managed to get about 9 pages in on my online archive of copyright free artworks:

Claymore Art

Copyright Free Art as Inspiration

www.flickr.com

It's slanted towards medieval/fairytale stuff, but there are over 4000 paintings, all labelled, so it's easy to right click on the names and quickly google the time the painting was made and the subject matter. You may find a lot more stuff that's closer to what you are looking for.

 

[Moonglum]

Cool idea for a thread! It reminds me of a game concept I've wanted to write up for many, many years but never quite got around to: my working title is 'World War 0', and it focuses on espionage, duels, exploration and battle in the napoleonic wars.

 

[Shipyard Locked]

Cool idea for a thread!

I'm trying to get into the headspace for a campaign I'm running in 19th-century France, so visuals are very helpful.

 

[Sharrow]

A Frank Encampment in the Desert of Mount Sinai – 1842 – The Convent of St. Catherine in the Distance, by John Fredrick Lewis.

There are a lot of orientalist works out there, many of them from the period, and many also of 'adventure'.