George-Antoine Rochegrosse: The Heroes of Marathon, the Attack 1911
I like this painting because of its fantastically chosen viewpoint: I, the viewer, am the center. I feel I am in the midst of the battle of Marathon. Resolute Athenian soldiers are running towards me and I am freaking out. Every figure on the painting are facing me, fiercely flourishing their lances.
In 490 BC, near Marathon, a town close to Athens, the strategist Miltiades decided to swoop unawares the Persian troops. His Athenian soldiers really overran through the one and a half kilometers distance to the Persian army, with about the same enthusiasm as on the painting. They won the battle, if anybody doubted it.
So I am right in the way of these crazy Greeks who will trump me like a pita. Even the guy with the bronze helmet looks at me from his visor vigorously. Okay, I think now I really need to run myself as well. I will not stop until Athens.