Henrique Alvim Corrêa – Dead Martians in Their Machines, War of the Worlds 1906

Edwardian readers opening H.G. Wells' 'The War of the Worlds' to this image would have felt a cold shudder of vindicated dread — the invincible destroyers finally laid low. Corrêa renders the apocalyptic scene with masterful chiaroscuro: a titanic Martian fighting-machine slumps against a rocky cliff, its mechanical limbs splayed in defeat, while the distant skyline of a ravaged city lingers in the sepia haze. Birds circle freely again. Humanity has survived by the smallest biological miracle.