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

Nick Alm