The Fallen Angel painting, by Alexandre Cabanel, depicts Lucifer, the fallen angel, in a very humanistic light. This painting, specifically, is well known because of the singular tear falling from Lucifer's face, which helps us truly grasp the emotions that are meant to be felt through this painting. This painting showcases the beauty of the fallen angel along with the story and the building fury within him. It is through this depiction and the usage of shadow that we are also able to sense the feelings of revenge that are accumulated throughout the painting.
This painting was created in 1847, during this time period, Satan was not viewed as a scary devil and all-knowing ruler of hell, but rather a complex figure. It is also important to note common traits associated with Satan during this time, such as a figure of rebellion, pride, and melancholy, and viewed through a sympathetic lens.
This idea of Satan was created thanks to the art that was created during this time period. Thanks to paintings such as Fallen Angel and romantic literature such as John Milton's Paradise Lost. Satan was portrayed as the story of a man, Lucifer, and his tragic story of a man who lost everything, creating the tragic protagonist that we can see throughout paintings and stories of Satan/ Lucifer from this time period.
This leads me to ask: why did we specifically romanticize the devil in artwork during this time period? And, what portrayal of Satan is more accurate, today's idea of the devil or the 1800’s romantisized idea of Lucifer, the tragic protagonist?
That's a great question, Olivia! One of the things going on, which isn't necessarily connected to that time period, is the idea that Satan must be beautiful or appealing in order to capture the attention of the world. It actually makes me think of the looksmaxxing trend. Maybe I should post or write something about that!
ReplyDeleteArt is very impactful when it relates to how people view Satan. Even if most people have read the biblical texts concerning "the devil" and "ha-satan", not everyone has the ability to visualize these sorts of descriptions of Satan, so they trust what an artist depicts rather than their own limited imagination. Biblical descriptions of "the devil" and "ha-satan" are much different from the bright red humanoid creature with horns and a tail we see depicted so much in pop culture. But the same time, biblical texts don't depict him as a handsome young man turning to evil as a result of his losses either. There's other examples of this phenomenon occuring with Christian figures, the most of which is probably the angels with the whole "biblically accurate angel" meme, but obviously the one concerning Satan is the most relevant to this class.
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