History painting is the painting of scenes with narrative content from classical history, Christian history as well as depicting the historical events of the near past. The historical events chosen would be iconographic, not only depicting important events, but ones of particular significance to the painter's society, as for instance, the signing of the declaration of independence in American history painting. The event, if suitable, does not need to have actually occurred, and artists have frequently taken great liberties with historical facts in order to portray the message desired.
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