Poland saw the first exhibition of works by some celebrated representative of 19th-century European historicism: Paul Delaroche (French school), Karl Theodor Piloty (Munich school) and Hans Makart (Vienna school).

The show was rounded out by oil sketches by some Hungarian artists, among them Mihály Munkácsy, Sándor Liezen-Mayer, Bertalan Székely, Gyula Benczur, Victor Madarász. 

The project was also an irganisational trial-blazer: this was the first time the nonmuseum interior of the ICC Gallery was home to a presentation of paintings brought down from significant collections in (Musée du Louvre), Munich (Bayerischen Staatsgemäldesammlungen), Vienna (Östereichische Galerie) and Budapest (Magyar Nemzeti Galéria).