History Creator / AlexandreCabanel

* FanArt: Cabanel often took inspiration for his pieces from Greek theatre tragedies and some literary works. A product of the former is his "Orestes", from ''Theatre/TheOresteia'' play. As for literature, Cabanel's "Ophelia" portrays the suicide of the titular character from Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. His "The Fallen Angel" illustrates a very climatic scene from the epic poem ''Literature/ParadiseLost''.

* FanArt: Cabanel often took inspiration for his pieces from Greek theatre tragedies and some literary works. A product of the former is his "Orestes". As for literature, Cabanel's "Ophelia" portrays the suicide of the titular character from Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. His "The Fallen Angel" illustrates a very climatic scene from the epic poem ''Literature/ParadiseLost''.

* FanArt: Cabanel often took inspiration for his pieces from Greek theatre tragedies and some literary works. His "Orestes" was born from watching traditional Greek play, while his "The Fallen Angel" draws a scene from the epic poem ''Literature/ParadiseLost''.

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* GenreAdultery: During his formative years, Cabanel won two important art awards of the time that were indicative of his preference for BiblicalMotifs. The Prix of Rome with his "Jesus in the Pretorium" and getting his "Christ in the Guardian of Olives" admitted to the Salon of Paris. Some art historians speculate that he was playing it safe, what with making his characters' expressions as neutral as possible. However, a young Cabanel yearned to suffuse more emotion into his artworks, so he switched gears to MythicalMotifs and produced his "Orestes", a nude painting of the son of Agamemnon reaching his hand out. He soon returned to Christian themes with his (still very expressive) "Art/TheFallenAngel" and, after a while, to apathetic, idealized paintings. It wasn't until some years later that he returned to Greek mythology and charmed the aristocrats with his Art Pompier frescos.

When Cabanel was a pupil, he faced a tough public in his fellow Academic artists. {{Paintings}} like ''The Fallen Angel'' were called sloppy and too {{Romanticis|m}}t in style due to, respectively, not yet following perfect proportions (just near perfect, mind you) and displaying emotions too raw. This, despite always having submitted very by-the-rules works. It was only after he perfected his technique that he was acknowledged by the Academy as a proper artist and his art to be coveted by notable figures of his time.

Academic Art is the LawfulNeutral of the arts because it sets strict rules of how art must be done. Some people regard it as LawfulStupid since it heavily constrains creativity and doesn't put the expression of emotion as its highest priority -- which is the primary reason why modern art was born.

Cabanel, however, is one of the few who managed to create meaning and convey complex emotions ''within'' the Academist conventions. He is, in particular, the best representative of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27art_pompier L'Art Pompier]]; i.e., those huge Neoclassicist allegorical ([[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} religious]], [[Myth/ClassicalMythology classic]], or historical) murals. And that explains why he was [[UsefulNotes/RevolutionsOf1848 Napoleon III's]] preferred artist and the public's favorite. He also worked in oil on canvas.

* DatedHistory: His depiction of UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII is informed by the discredited idea that she was a scheming, amoral FemmeFatale whose sins led to her death and to the destruction of Egypt as an independent nation. Newer, better-verified records paint a different story. Cleopatra saw seducing Caesar and Antony as a legitimate way of convincing them to help restore order in a country quickly approaching lawlessness while at the same time preventing Rome from invading and enslaving the populace.

Ironically enough, the "uneducated" public, adored (and still adores) several of his paintings, if only because modern art has gotten increasingly abstract and less straightforward since then. In other words, the beauty and message of a Cabanel are easier to interpret than those of a Mondrian. At least, to the average person.

!! Alexandre Cabanel's artworks:

!! Tropes found throughout Alexandre Cabanel's paintings:

!! Conversational Troping Alexandre Cabanel engaged in:

* ConceptArtGallery: As Academicism heavily encouraged, Cabanel drew lots of sketches (today known as Master Studies or études) before working on the actual oil painting. Some are pose references while others are mock paintings to figure the color palette. Most of them are available online or compiled in the 1989 art exposition "Déssins d'Alexandre Cabanel 1823-1889" of the Musée Fabre, France.

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* ConceptArt: As Academicism heavily encouraged, Cabanel drew lots of sketches (today known as Master Studies or études) before working on the actual oil painting. Some are pose references while others are mock paintings to figure the color palette. Most of them are available online or compiled in the 1989 art exposition "Déssins d'Alexandre Cabanel 1823-1889" of the Musée Fabre, France.

* ArtImitatesArt: Academicism was all about this trope -- using a not-so-{{Small Reference Pool|s}} (Classical Mythology and Christianity) following strict rules of proportion and composition, which greatly hindered creativity and caused artists to repeat the masters' artworks over and over. Cabanel, despite disagreeing with it in his youth, won a contest by imitating Giorgione's ''Art/{{Sleeping Venus|Giorgione}}''. He later learned to give his own OriginalFlavor to such Neoclassicist paintings.

When Cabanel was a pupil, he faced a tough public in his fellow Academic artists. Paintings like ''The Fallen Angel'' were called sloppy and too {{Romanticis|m}}t in style due to, respectively, not yet following perfect proportions (just near perfect, mind you) and displaying emotions too raw. This, despite always having submitted very by-the-rules works. It was only after he perfected his technique that he was acknowledged by the Academy as a proper artist and his art to be coveted by notable figures of his time.

!! List of paintings by Alexandre Cabanel:

Alexandre Cabanel was a French {{painter|s}} of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_art Academicism]] artistic movement which, in other words, means he was a technician. And a virtuoso, at that, painting an extremely realistic self-portrait at thirteen.

Cabanel, however, is one of the few who managed to create meaning and convey complex emotions ''within'' the Academist conventions. He is, in particular, the best representative of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27art_pompier L'Art Pompier]]; i.e., those huge [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance Renaissance]] allegorical ([[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} religious]], [[Myth/ClassicalMythology classic]], or historical) murals. And that explains why he was [[UsefulNotes/RevolutionsOf1848 Napoleon III's]] preferred artist and the public's favorite. He also worked in oil on canvas.

* ArtImitatesArt: Academicism was all about this trope -- using a not-so-{{Small Reference Pool|s}} (Classical Mythology and Christianity) following strict rules of proportion and composition, which greatly hindered creativity and caused artists to repeat the masters' artworks over and over. Cabanel, despite disagreeing with it in his youth, won a contest by imitating Giorgione's ''Art/{{Sleeping Venus|Giorgione}}''. He later learned to give his own OriginalFlavor to such Renaissance paintings.

* ArtImitatesArt: Academicism was all about this trope -- using a not-so-{{Small Reference Pool|s}} (the Classical Mythology and Christianity) following strict rules of proportion and composition, which greatly hindered creativity and caused artists to repeat the masters' artworks over and over. Cabanel, despite disagreeing with it in his youth, won a contest by imitating Giorgione's ''Art/{{Sleeping Venus|Giorgione}}''. He later learned to give his own OriginalFlavor to such Renaissance paintings.

** The only time where he rebelled against this was during his formative years -- when he painted ''Art/TheFallenAngel'' as a student, his technique was not yet the absolute perfection the Academy demanded and his imprinting of emotions was deemed more appropriate for {{Romanticism}} than for Academicism (aka, UsefulNotes/TheEnlightment). Mind you, the idealization of emotions meant some degree of dispassion.

* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism_(arts) Idealism]] is an artistic aesthetic featured in Academic Art, and therefore in Cabanel's paintings. As [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin its name indicates]], it's about idealizing reality to a standard of perfection and beauty that can only be found inside one's imagination. This means the artworks depicted no blood or dirt even when the scene would have required them and the textures were clean, smooth, and even outright shiny sometimes (in the case of metal surfaces and skin).

* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism_(arts) Idealism]] is an artistic aesthetic featured in Academic, and therefore in Cabanel's, paintings. As [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin its name indicates]], it's about idealizing reality to a standard of perfection and beauty that can only be found inside one's imagination. This means the artworks depicted no blood or dirt even when the scene would have required them and the textures were clean, smooth, and even outright shiny sometimes (in the case of metal surfaces and skin).

* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: Idealism is an artistic aesthetic featured in Academic, and therefore in Cabanel's, paintings. As [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin its name indicates]], it's about idealizing reality to a standard of perfection and beauty that can only be found inside one's imagination. This means the artworks depicted no blood or dirt even when the scene would have required them and the textures were clean, smooth, and even outright shiny sometimes (in the case of metal surfaces and skin).

Cabanel, however, is one of the few who managed to create meaning and convey complex emotions ''within'' the Academist conventions. He is, in particular, the best representative of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27art_pompier L'Art Pompier]]; i.e., those huge [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance Renaissance]] allegorical (religious, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology classic]], or historical) murals. And that explains why he was [[UsefulNotes/RevolutionsOf1848 Napoleon III's]] preferred artist and the public's favorite. He also worked in oil on canvas.

Alexandre Cabanel was a French oil painter of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_art Academicism]] artistic movement which, in other words, means he was a technician. And a virtuoso, at that, painting an extremely realistic self-portrait at thirteen.

Cabanel, however, is one of the few who managed to create meaning and convey complex emotions ''within'' the Academist conventions. He is, in particular, the best representative of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27art_pompier L'Art Pompier]]; i.e., those huge [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance Renaissance]] allegorical (religious, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology classic]], or historical) murals. And that explains why he was [[UsefulNotes/RevolutionsOf1848 Napoleon III's]] preferred artist and the public's favorite.