Heinrich Lossow - Die Versündigung, or The Sin (1880). The painting presents a papal party, later called the "Banquet of Chestnuts". A report of it was made by Protonotarius: “On the last day of October 1501, Cesare Borgia arranged a feast at his chambers in the Vatican with fifty prostitutes (courtesans), who danced in the afternoon with servants and other people present, first in their clothes and then naked. After dinner, candelabra with burning candles were removed from the tables and laid on the floor, and around were scattered chestnuts, which the naked courtesans picked up, crawling on all fours between the candelabra, while Papa, Cesare and his sister Lucretia watched. Prizes were ready for those who could perform the act often with courtesans. The winners were awarded with tunics of silk, shoes and other things. “

Jean Nicolet Landing in Wisconsin, July 1634. Nicolet reached the shores of Green Bay, thinking he had discovered the eastern shores of Asia. He landed attired in an elaborately embroided mandarin's robe and discharging his pistols. He was hailed by the Indians as a deity.

Diogenes by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1860). Diogenes' companions were dogs that served as emblems of his "Cynic" (Greek: "kynikos," dog-like) philosophy. When asked why he went about with a lamp in broad daylight, Diogenes confessed, "I am looking for an honest man."

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich (1818). The figure is wearing an Altdeutsche ("Old German") outfit, which was associated with the nationalist movement and banned by the states of the German Confederation in 1819.

Dante Leaving Hell, Italy, 15th Century. Source: biblioteca apostolica vaticana, urb. lat. 365, fol. 95v

Painted by Cabanel when he was 24, the fallen angel was despised and rejected by the academy who called it 'an incompetent' composition'.

Trionfo di Sant'Ignazio by Fratel Pozzo 1685-1694

Rented house in the UK by Iwona Kikija