Bucharest – National Museum of Art (Grigorie Brâncoveanu)

I liked this painting, there seems to be quite some depth to it, which is of Grigorie Brâncoveanu (1764 – 1832), who was the Great Ban (or regional leader) of Wallachia. The family had been important during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but it came to an end with Grigorie.

It’s not known who painted the artwork, nor its date, other than it was from the first half of the nineteenth century. History could have easily be just slightly different and Wallachia could be its own country, rather than subsumed into Romania. It was only the constant threat of Russia which led the leaders of Wallachia into wanting to unite with neighbouring countries.