Very interesting such history painting being a major theme that painters were to react against. I think there are still major differences below and above the line of Roman occupation. Many thanks for your efforts!
Sometimes you have to dig around a bit to understand what is going on in a painting, particularly some of JMW Turner’s.
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), The Opening of the Wallhalla, 1842 (1843), oil on mahogany, 112.7 x 200.7 cm, The Tate Gallery (Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856), London. © The Tate Gallery and Photographic Rights © Tate (2016), CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported), http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-opening-of-the-wallhalla-1842-n00533
Here, my puzzle is The Opening of the Wallhalla, 1842 (1843), which shows a classical building resembling the Parthenon in Athens, and a huge crowd of people gathered on the opposite bank of the river below it. Valhalla is, of course, the mythical majestic hall to which half of the Vikings went when they died in battle, in preparation for Ragnarök.
The Walhalla (to spell it correctly) which Turner shows is a very long way from the lands of the…
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