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Ranks art forms in terms of their prestige and cultural value. The term is mostly used within the field of painting, and from the High Renaissance onwards, by which time painting had asserted itself as the highest form of art

Literature

Epic

Lyric Poetry and comic poetry

 drama

novel 

Music 

Opera - highest form

Any element of comedy reduced the status of work, but increased popularity 

Figurative Art: fully developed hierarchy in early 19th century 

History Painting including historically important, religious, mythological, or allegorical subjects

Annibale Carracci, Allegory of Truth and Time (1584–5), an allegorical history painting relying very little upon realism. 

Portrait painting

Velázquez, portrait painting of Pope Innocent X, c. 1650 

Genre painting or scenes of everyday life

A genre painting. Adriaen van Ostade, Fishmonger, 1660–1670, oil on oak, 29 × 26.5 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. 

Landscape and cityscape art (landscapists were called "common footmen in the Army of Art" by the Dutch theorist Samuel van Hoogstraten)

A landscape. Themistokles von Eckenbrecher, View of Laerdalsoren, on the Sognefjord, oil on canvas, 1901.

Animal painting

George Stubbs (1724-1806): Whistlejacket (c. 1762), National Gallery

Still life

A still life. Heinrich Uhl, Still life with Jewelry Box, Opera Glasses, Gloves, and Bouquet of Flowers, oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cm.

The hierarchy was based on a distinction between art that made an intellectual effort to "render visible the universal essence of things" (imitare in Italian) and that which merely consisted of "mechanical copying of particular appearances" (ritrarre)

Mainly depicting inanimate subject matter: food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks or shells, objects may be natural or man-made: drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes,etc.

Origins stem from the Middle Ages and Ancient Graeco-Roman art. Still-life painting emerged within Western painting by the late 16th century as a distinct genre and a professional specialization.

Still Life ensues more freedom in the arrangement of elements within a composition than other types of subjects: landscape or portraiture. In early still life paintings (before 1700): religious and allegorical symbolism related objects were often depicted. Modern depictions employs 3-D mixed media, photography, computer graphics, video and sound mixed in some arrangements. 

Still life emerged from the painting of details in larger compositions with subjects, and historically been combined with figure subjects. There has been overlap with zoological and botanical illustration among artists. 

Generally, still life includes a fully depicted background and emphasizes aesthetics rather than illustrative concerns. 

Glass bowl of fruit and vases. Roman wall painting in Pompeii (around 70 AD), Naples National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy

Hans Memling (1430–1494), Vase of Flowers (1480), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. According to some scholars the Vase of Flowers is filled with religious symbolism. -- Middle Ages and Renaissance

16th Century: Explosion of interest in the natural world and creation of lavish botanical encyclopedias recording the discoveries of the New World and Asia. Natural objects began to be appreciated as individual objects of study apart from religious or mythological associations. 

Joachim Beuckelaer (1533–1575), Kitchen scene, with Jesus in the house of Martha and Mary in the background (1566), 171 × 250 cm (67.3 × 98.4 in).

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Fruitbasket (1595–96), oil on canvas, 31 x 47 cm

Pieter Claesz (1597–1660), Still life with Musical Instruments (1623)

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), Sunflowers or Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (1888), National Gallery (London)

One of the most famous Irish mythological heroes, Cú Chulainn appears in the Ulster Cycle (medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of traditional heroes of the Ulaid around/before 1st Century AD) and Scottish and Manx folklore. 

Son of Deichtine and the god Lugh, nephew of Conchobar mac Nessa, the King of Ulster. He is better known as Cu Chulainn (’Chulann’s Hound’) rather than his given name at birth, Setanta. Throughout his life, Cu Chulainn is a well renowned fighter and was destined to have everlasting fame but a short life. There is no boundary between friend or foe, he fights all earning himself a myriad of enemies and conspirators. 

Cu Chulainn is seen as a hero to Irish nationalists and Ulter unionists. The Irish nationalists see him as the most important Celtic Irish hero. Unionists see him as an Ulsterman defending the province from enemies to the South. These depictions are exemplified through cultural artworks and sculptures spread across Ireland. 

Gáe Bulg (’spear of mortal pain/death spear’)

Given to Chu Chulainn by his martial arts teacher, the warrior woman Scathach, this spear and its usage/techniques are unique to him. Made from the bone of a seamonster, the Coinchenn (died while fighting another sea monster, the Curruid). Gae Bulg’s deadliness is exemplified through the Tain Bo Cuailnge by Cu Chulainn and the gruesome state in which its victims are left in. 

Traditionally, the spear’s name was translated as ‘belly spear’ with bulga being derived from Old Irish bolg, ‘belly, sack, bag’. Similarly enchanted spear, Odin’s Gungnir (Nordic legend). 

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, philologist, and Latin and Greek scholar whose work has exerted a profound influence on Western philosophy and modern intellectual history.

Published intensively in the 1870s and 1880s. He is famous for uncompromising criticisms of traditional European morality and religion, as well as of conventional philosophical ideas and social and political pieties associated with modernity. Many of these criticisms rely on psychological diagnoses that expose false consciousness infecting people’s received ideas; for that reason, he is often associated with a group of late modern thinkers (including Marx and Freud) who advanced a “hermeneutics of suspicion” against traditional values. Nietzsche also used his psychological analyses to support original theories about the nature of the self and provocative proposals suggesting new values that he thought would promote cultural renewal and improve social and psychological life by comparison to life under the traditional values he criticized.

Some prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favor of perspectivism; his genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality, and his related theory of master–slave morality;[6][14] his aesthetic affirmation of existence in response to the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism;[6] his notion of the Apollonian and Dionysian; and his characterization of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power.[15] In his later work, he developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and the doctrine of eternal return, and became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome social, cultural, and moral contexts in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health.[9]

(Niflheimr, “Mist Home” “Mist World”) Niflheim is one of the nine worlds in Norse mythology which existed since the beginning of time (Primordial) with its counterpart, Muspelheim, the realm of fire. Primarily a realm of ice and cold with the frozen river of Elivagar and the well of Hvergelmir (where all rivers collide). These two realms of ice and fire was where creation began when these realms mixed to form a “creating steam”. Later, Niflheim became the abode of Hel, the goddess daugher of Loki and the afterlife for her subjects.  Niflhel (”Misty Hel” also a cognate with Nebel, German and Latin root: fog) Sometimes interpreted as the lowet level of Hel, according to Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic poet, politician, and historian. 

Hel (location) Cognate to all germanic languages: Hell. It is related to the afterlife ‘hall of the slain’ in Norse Mythology. In the poem Voluspa, a volva states Hel will play an important role in Ragnarok. In Grimnismal stanza 31, Hel exists beneath one of the three roots of the world tree Yggdrasil. 

AKA:  A place of eternal cold, darkness, and fog, ruled over by Hel: abode of those who die of illness or old age.

Prometheus Brings Fire by Heinrich Friedrich Füger. Prometheus brings fire to mankind as told by Hesiod, with its having been hidden as revenge for the trick at Mecone.

Creator of mankind and its greatest benefactor. Stole fire from Mt. Olympus and gave it to mankind. Ancient myths and legends usually depict his exploits with Zeus and his eternal punishment inflicted by Zeus. 

the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless. A form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose or intrinsic value. There is no inherent morality and accepted moral values are abstractly contrived. 

PHILOSOPHY: extreme skepticism maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence. Knowledge is not possible. Reality does not actually exist.

historical: the doctrine of an extreme Russian revolutionary party c. 1900, which found nothing to approve of in the established social order.

Nihil (Latin: nothing) + -ism (Eng) = nihilism 19th Century 

Irish mythology, a love triangle legend: Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne – in English "The Pursuit of Díarmuid and Gráinne" is a popular romance of a love triangle.

 Traditionally set: 2nd - 4th century, one of the Fianna in the Fenian Cycle. Also known as Diarmid O’Dyna (AKA Diarmuid of the Love Spot) is best known as the lover of Gráinne, the intended wife of Fianna leader Fionn mac Cumhaill in the legend The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne. Diarmuid was a skilled warrior and a well-liked  and valued member of the Fianna (small, semi-independent warrior bands) who single-handedly killed 3,400 warriors in a battle and saved Fionn and the Fianna. 

Fenian Cycle (Fiannaíocht; AKA Ossianic Cycle) (Narrator: In legend poet, warrioir of fianna, son of Fionn: Oisin) A body of prose and verse centering on the exploits of the mythical hero Fionn mac Cumhaill and his warriors the Fianna. The other cycles of Irish mythology: Myhological Cycle, Ulster Cycle, Fenian Cycle, and the Historical Cycle. This  cycle also contains stories about other famous Fianna members, including Diarmuid, Caílte, Oisín's son Oscar, and Fionn's enemy, Goll mac Morna. 

Weapons Diarmuid’s foster father and protector,  the Tuatha Dé Danaan god of love and creativity Aenghus Óg, owned a a deadly sword,  Móralltach or Nóralltach – the Great Fury and gave it to his foster son in addition to a sword named Beagaltach, the Little Fury. Diarmuid is also known to have wielded two spears,  Gáe Buidhe (Yellow Spear) and Gáe Dearg (Red Spear), which caused wounds that could not be healed. He used Gáe Dearg and Moralltach for adventures which were matters of life and death, and Gáe Buidhe and Beagalltach for lesser battles.

Magical Love Spot making him irresistible to women.  While hunting one night he met a woman who was the personification of youth. After sleeping with him she put a magical love spot on his forehead that caused any woman who looked at it to fall in love with him. 

Martyr, saint and military leader acting under divine guidance led the French army to victory over the English.

 She earned the title, “The Maid of Orléans” (French: La Pucelle d’Orléans) during the Hundred Years’ War. A year later after her victory, she was captured by Anglo-Burgundian forces and was tried for witchcraft and heresy. Burned at the stake at age 19, she was officially canonized in 1920, 500 years later and is an enduring symbol of French unity and nationalism. 

Jeanne d’Arc was not taught to read or write, instead her pious mother instilled in her a deep love for the Catholic church and its teachings. She learned piety and domestic skills from her mother and was skilled at taking care of animals and as a seamstress. Around 1422 when Henry V’s infant son as king, Charles VII’s (Charles VI was insane and often unable to rule) supporters saw an opportunity to return the crown to a French monarch. At this time (age 13) Jeanne d’Arc began experienced visions and heard voices encouraging her to become the savior of France and install Charles as its rightful king. Thereafter, she sought Robert de Baudricourt, the garrison commander and a supporter of Charles, for an audience in May 1428. After an initial rejection, he relented later after seeing the villagers approval of her. After convincing Charles after a series of tests in 1429, she was given an army to fight the English. In July 1429, Charles was made King in Reims. At the same time, Jeanne’s reputation spread far and wide among French forces. 

In 1430, King Charles VII ordered Jeanne to confront a Burgundian assault on Compiégne. As she was defending the town and its inhabitants, she was thrown from her horse and left to enemy forces as the gates closed and she was taken captive by Anglo-Burgundians. In her trial, she was charged 70 accounts for: witchcraft, heresy and dressing like a man. The Anglo-Burgundians were trying to discredit Charles (who owed his coronation to her) and to get rid of the young leader. This resulted in King Charles VII distancing himself and made no attempt to have her released. 

May 1431, after a year of captivity and under threat of death, Jeanne relented and signed a confession. In that confession, she denied ever having received divine guidance, but defied orders again by wearing men’s clothes. May 30th, Jeanne was taken to the marketplace in Rouen and burned at the stake. 

After Joan's death, the Hundred Years’ War continued for another 22 years. King Charles VII ultimately retained his crown, and he ordered an investigation that in 1456 declared Joan of Arc to be officially innocent of all charges and designated a martyr. She was canonized as a saint on May 16, 1920, and is the patron saint of France. Long before Pope Benedict XV canonized her in 1920, Joan of Arc had attained mythic stature, inspiring numerous works of art and literature over the centuries and becoming the patron saint of France.

Impressionism (1860s and 1870s) 19th Century art movement characterized by small, thin, yet visible brush strokes. Accurate depiction of light portrayed as to highlight the effects of the passage of time. Ordinary subject matter: movement, human perception and experience, unusual visual angles. Painted realities of the world using bright colors and focused on infusing their scenes with immediacy. In order to express their visual experience with that exact moment, impressionists reflect reality and life during a random glance. Impressionist paintings usually arrange their main subjects to command the viewer’s attention. The boundary between subject and background are relaxed as to relay the effect of an impressionist painting, thereby resembling a snapshot as if caught by chance. Photography also inspired impressionists as they were also gaining popularity to represent momentary action and the day-by-day activities and lives of people. The development of impressionism can also be considered as a challenge to photography which seemed to devalue an artist’s skill in reproducing reality. Portrait and landscape paintings seemed to be lacking compared to photography’s ability to produce lifelike images more efficiently and reliably. Others who did not interpret photography as a challenge inspired artists to pursue other means of creative expressionism. Artists focused on developing the subjectivity part of the art form which photography was devoid of. Thus, individual perceptions of nature provided the subjective alternative to direct representations to which photographs were limited to. Ukiy-e Japanese art prints contributed to the “snapshot” angles and unconventional compositions that were characteristic of impressionism. Bold blocks of color and composition on strong diagonal slant showed influence of Japanese prints.

Claude Monet, Jardin à Sainte-Adresse, 1867, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York., a work showing the influence of Japanese prints

The well known French impressionists we know today are: Claude Monet (1840 - 1926), Pierre-August Renoir (1841 - 1919), Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917) prefers the term realist rather than impressionist, Berthe Morisot (1841 - 1895), Alfred Sisley (1839- 1899), among others. They faced harsh opposition from the conventional art community in France due to their style of being incomplete, a mere impression of what the final work would look like. Their works did not make the Salon (supported by the state to help living artists. Through jury selection, artists were selected to present their works annually.), thus enabling them to present their works together through their own exhibition. Critics viewed these works as mere “impressions” or lack of finish kinds of appearance. Traditionally, these “impressions” were meant to be aids for the memory to readdress and complete those paintings as finished works. But for impressionists, these were completed works that looked like sketches. Their paintings also challenged historical, objective paintings. Rather than sticking to the Academy’s category codes, these realists and impressionists believed landscapes and genres scenes (of contemporary life) were worthy and important as well. Through capturing landscape and contemporary life, they were capturing atmospheric conditions (light flickering on water, moving clouds,bursts of rain) whatever they saw in the moment. These colors were more vibrant and had blended optically. By capturing the moment, the rapid pace of contemporary life and fleeting conditions of light, they were creating a sense of modernity as they captured the fleeting times in their canvases.

Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise, 1872, oil on canvas, 48 x 63 cm (Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris). This painting was exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874.

Berte Morisot, The Cradle, 1872, oil on canvas, 56 x 46 cm (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bal du moulin de la Galette, 1876, oil on canvas, 131 x 175 cm (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)

Edgar Degas, The Ballet Class, 1871-1874, oil on canvas, 75 x 85 cm (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)