5Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène Delacroix (1827)

Inspired by the tale of Sardanapulus, an Assyrian King who ordered all his possessions destroyed as he learned of his military defeat, Delacroix chose the best part of the story to paint—when all the concubines were to be killed.

Violent, opulent and sensual, it plays on all the Western fascinations with the Orient under the guise of ‘history painting.’