Young Christian Martyrs and Young Christian Martyrs (1855)
This work describes the persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. Many Christians drowned in the Tiber River in Rome. This work is called "Christian filia" by later generations (the heroine of Shakespeare's Hamlet, the image of a drowning girl), and the image of the drowning girl shows the innocence and godsend beauty of the girl.
The Roman emperor who persecuted Christians on a large scale was Diocletian (reigned from 284 to 305): he initiated Roman autocracy, the emperor became the supreme commander of the army, and initiated the system that four emperors (two emperors and two deputy emperors) jointly ruled the Roman Empire, opened the slave market to supplement the financial shortage, and executed a large number of Christians, killing about 20,000 Christians in total.
In 305, Diocletian abdicated due to poor health. After six years in seclusion, he died in 3 1 1. The Christian church gave him a bad evaluation.
This work was created on 1855, one year before the death of Paul Delaroche. At that time, Paul Delaroche suffered from various diseases. Although the color of this painting is sad and gloomy, it still has a romantic style.