La painting Fallen Angel, also known in English as "The Fallen Angel", is a work made in 1847 by the French academic painter Alexandre Cabanel. Throughout history, it has been repeatedly praised by critics, due to the emotion it conveys. If you want to know a little more about her, we invite you to stay and learn with us.
Painting The Fallen Angel/The Fallen Angel
In the mid-nineteenth century, specifically in 1847, the French painter Alexandre Cabanel, after being criticized in a very negative way by experts, does not give up and presents a work entitled "The Fallen Angel" to the world. Currently, this painting is part of the extensive art collection of the Fabre Museum in Montpellier, France.
Despite the fact that he was fully dedicated to the conservation of the Western pictorial tradition, Cabanel always opted not to reject, at least not completely, those artistic movements such as romanticism, for example. Each of his paintings reflect him in a subtle way, given the historical, mythological and religious themes he deals with.
'The Fallen Angel' is no exception, since the excessive emotions in the gestures of its protagonist are unparalleled. For the creation of this wonderful work, his inspiration originated in the epic poem of 1667 by the Englishman John Milton, which is called "Paradise Lost", in addition to the fallen angels: Beelzebub, Belial, Mammon, Moloch and Mulciber.
It portrays with extraordinary firmness, the feeling of anger in the eyes of someone who, according to Judeo-Christian beliefs, was once the right hand of God at the time of creating Heaven and Earth. Despite this, after being blinded by greed, he decided to reveal himself and start a battle from which he came out the loser, since he was defeated by the Archangel Saint Michael.
You can see Lucifer, a fallen angel who has always been talked about a lot due to his stunning beauty. He is splendidly conceived by careful anatomical study, characteristic of a classical rendering by an academic artist, in which the figure's musculature is quite prominent.
Lucifer looks with great suspicion and pride at the creator who agreed to challenge. With impressive energy, Alexandre Cabanel painted the final moments of that battle in the skies. The angel has both arms raised and the fingers of his hands intertwined, so that he can hide half of his face from it.
Despite such shielding, from a good part of his facial expression, it is still not possible to hide all the mixed feelings, since it is easy to realize his state of mind by what is seen in his eyes. Revenge takes center stage and he knows very well that someone will have to pay for his expulsion. Although he retains his pride, he also clearly thinks of retribution.
For that time, the topic touched upon greatly surprised the jurists of the initial exhibition, since no student had had the audacity to send a work from Rome that would represent the Devil himself. At just 24 years old, its author introduced the famous Lucifer to the Fine Arts Hall, becoming the first to do so.
It was a transcendental presentation of a historical painting in which certain regulations had to be established with which the jurists and academics examined it and concluded that it was a work that bordered on a romance style. In addition, they declared that in it the movement was wrong, the drawing was imprecise and the execution quite deficient.
Cabanel seriously replied in a letter to his friend Alfred Bruyas, that this was the reward he deserved for all the trouble he had gone to not to present an average piece of art. We could define it as a mannerist feat of color, in which diffuse lighting and detailed anatomical study transcend the rigid conservatism of fine art.
About its author, Alexandre Cabanel
Once we have already investigated a little in the work itself, we can go on to talk more in depth about its author, Alexandre Cabanel. This important artist of academicism, he was born in a city in the south of France called Montpellier on September 28, 1823 in the bosom of a quite humble family for the time.
Within his artistic training, his first but firm steps were in a drawing academy in his native land. After the passing of the years, he had to move to the French capital to be trained by the talented painter François Edouard Picot at the School of Fine Arts.
After that, as happened with many young people belonging to his generation, little by little his performance at the 'École des Beaux-Arts' provided him with the skills to be able to win a scholarship and move to Italy, where he would meet countless extraordinary Renaissance artists.
In 1845, he was awarded a prized medal at the Rome Salon. It was there, in Italy, that he ended up discovering his particular style and character of painting, with a great influence on Mannerism, an artistic movement that emerged in the XNUMXth century, but which he transported in an innovative way to the XNUMXth century.
Cabanel based his academicism on the full harmonization of the soft tones of his paintings and the conventional subtlety of forms. At times, he strongly rejected the emerging avant-garde currents, preserving the pictorial tradition of the West. In addition, he was the main rival of the Impressionist Édouard Manet.
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Despite his many achievements, fame came to him in 1863 with the creation of one of his best-known canvases, "The Birth of Venus" or "Naissance de Vénus" in French, when Emperor Napoleon III acquired it. He notably stood out as a portrait painter of the European aristocracy and its imperial court, creating multiple works.
The following could be mentioned: “Portrait of Alfred Bruyas” (1840), “Self-portrait” (1852), “Portrait of Napoleon III” (1865), as well as paintings referring to the Hôtel Pereire, such as “Fedra” (1880). The latter stands out thanks to the oil painting technique on canvas that was used, and its dimensions of around 194 cm high and 286 cm wide.
Gradually he gained the recognition he deserved, his works even being claimed by many international collectors and official French institutions. He was appointed professor at the 'École des Beaux-Arts' and also a member of the 'Académie des Beaux-Arts'.
He lasted two decades, between 1868 and 1888, being a jury member of the Paris Salon, where he was repeatedly awarded the medal of honor. Likewise, he played the role of teacher with students of the stature of Albert Besnard, Alexandre Jean Baptiste Brun, Eugène Carrière, Fernand Cormon, Gastón Bussière, among others.
Analysis of the work
The work is nothing more than wonderful, the way in which Cabanel painted it surprises anyone. You can see very quickly each of the details captured, the well-defined muscles, each strand of hair, the delicacy of the wings and the feeling of his gaze are exceptional.
The painting makes the viewer feel everything that the author initially wanted to capture, automatically highlighting thanks to the realistic way that human nature is portrayed within a religious plane. Even if he had chosen to only place his face covered with his arms, it would be more than enough to know what the angel was thinking, since his expression says it all.
Both his tears, and his eyes of fright and anger, are the ones that stand out the most, asking us how he came up with the idea of joining those elements despite the harsh evaluations that were made of his work at that time. Although it was widely said that it had various errors, it is currently one of his most famous paintings.
As explained previously, the painting is the clear representation of the moment in which Lucifer was expelled from Paradise, an angel who would become the first apostate through rupture and renunciation. Although he was an example of beauty and intelligence at first, later he became the example of a being whose pride caused him to lose his place in heaven.
Today he is Satan, but in the past he was a seal of a masterpiece, full of wisdom and unparalleled beauty, until unfortunately his interior was filled with anger, violence and sin. His punishment will be forever to be an object of fear precipitated on Earth, far from where he belonged.
Banished by the Archangel Saint Michael, Lucifer lies on a stone with many angels surrounding him, far behind him, covering his humiliation to prevent them from seeing how bad he felt and the tears that welled up in his eyes. However, many experts say the opposite.
The inspiration from which the painting comes, the epic poem 'Lost in Paradise' (1667) by the Englishman John Milton, is well explained in one of his most famous quotes: "Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven". This phrase is said by the angel at the exact moment in which it becomes the representation of evil for Christians.
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