Battle Over Rome, the lost frescos

Commentary

Credit where it's due: this thing commits to the bit. The craquelure is well-distributed, the color palette nails that oxidized 17th-century varnish look, and the compositional chaos of a Baroque battle scene is present. The flying saucers are rendered with the same golden glow treatment you'd see in period depictions of divine light. The cavalry charge in the foreground has the right density and gestural energy. Someone scrolling past this in a history meme group would absolutely pause. But look closer at the abducted figures mid-air. They're not so much painted as suggested—limbs dissolving into smudges that no actual fresco painter would commit to canvas. The horses in the foreground are doing a lot of horse-shaped things without any of them having four legs that terminate correctly. And that palace in the middle distance? It's architecture from the School of Vibes—colonnades that lead nowhere, rooflines that forget what they were doing.