Line #58 Creator/AlexandreCabanel


1	[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/self_portrait_alexandre_cabanel.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:240:Cabanel's self-portrait.]]
3
4	->''"Of all the academic painters, Cabanel was both the most adored by the public and the most criticized."''
5	-->-- '''Jean Nougaret''', an art historian from the Montpellier Academy of Sciences and Letters.
6
7	Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889) 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.
8
9	{{Academic\|ism}} 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.
10
11	Cabanel, however, is one of the few who managed to create meaning and convey complex emotions ''within'' the Academist conventions -- probably, because of the helping of Rococo he added to his artworks. Cabanel 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.
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13	As a fun fact, he had a lot of pupils. You can count those who also made a name of their own by the dozens, never mind those who didn't.
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15	See also Creator/WilliamAdolpheBouguereau and [[Art/Odalisque1874 Jules Joseph Lefebvre]], {{painters}} who belonged to the Academist Movement too.
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17	----
18
19	!! Relationship with art critics:
20	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 which provided him with a modicum of fame and the reluctant approval of the judges. 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.
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22	Several years after his death, the TechnicianVersusPerformer debate between academic and modern art ensured he was put to the wringer by exponents and defendants of the latter. His art was deemed lifeless, monotone, and too lacking in the "conveying emotion" department. He was used as the scapegoat representative of Academicism which, in turn, was regarded as everything wrong with the period's art.
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24	Ironically enough, the "uneducated" public, adored (and still adores) some of his {{paintings}}, if only because modern art has gotten increasingly {{abstract\|ion}} 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.
25
26	!! Cabanel's artworks:
27	[[index]]
28	[[AC: Historical Paintings]]
29	* ''Art/CleopatraTestingPoisonsOnCondemnedPrisoners'' (1887)
30	* ''TheDeathOfFrancescaDaRiminiAndPaoloMalatesta'' (1870)
31	* ''Art/{{Harmonie}}'' (1877)
32	* ''Art/NapoleonIII'' (1865)
33
34	[[AC: Mythological Paintings]]
35	* ''[[Art/TheBirthOfVenusCabanel The Birth of Venus]]'' (1863)
36	* ''Art/NymphAbductedByAFaun'' (1860)
37	* ''Art/{{Ophelia}}'' (1883)
38	* ''Art/{{Phaedra}}'' (1880)
39
40	[[AC: Religious Paintings]]
41	* ''Art/TheDaughterOfJephthah'' (1879)
42	* ''Art/TheDeathOfMoses'' (1851)
43	* ''Art/TheExpulsionOfAdamAndEveFromTheGardenOfParadise'' (1867)
44	* ''Art/TheFallenAngel'' (1847)
45	[[/index]]
46
47	!! Tropes found throughout Cabanel's paintings:
48	* 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 Creator/{{Giorgione}}'s ''Art/{{Sleeping Venus\|Giorgione}}''. He later learned to give his own OriginalFlavor to such Neoclassicist paintings.
49	* ChristianFiction: Something of an EnforcedTrope because the Salon of Paris regarded artworks inspired by the Christian canon to be the most preferable subjects, above mythological and historical ones. As such, Cabanel's paintings during his early years were heavily dominated by religious pieces -- e.g., ''Art/TheDeathOfMoses'' (1851) and ''Art/TheFallenAngel''. Afterward, he took a liking to depict scenes from Myth/ClassicalMythology and got commissioned by influential people to paint them in huge, allegorical murals. Even then, he continued to produce Christian pieces such as ''Art/TheExpulsionOfAdamAndEveFromTheGardenOfParadise'' (1867) and ''Art/TheDaughterOfJephthah'' (1879).
50	* 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 out 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.
51	* CreatorsOddball: 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 Garden 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.
52	* CreatorThumbprint: "Orestes" started a lifelong trend of depicting muscled men in his artworks. After all, it's easier to emote through sheer BodyLanguage when your subject has muscles that bulge when tense or in awkward positions.
53	* DatedHistory: His depiction of UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII, ''Art/CleopatraTestingPoisonsOnCondemnedPrisoners'', 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.
54	* DeityFiction: Several of his works feature deities as major characters, either from Myth/ClassicalMythology and UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}. For example, the LoveGoddess Venus is the subject of his "Art/{{The Birth of Venus\|Cabanel}}". He also produced some PassionPlay pieces, such as "Christ in the Garden of Olives" and "Jesus in the Pretorium".
55	* 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. Another {{painting\|s}} captures the scene when Orestes takes refuge in the Temple of Apollon, and a third one has him as a Marathon soldier. 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''.
56	* FollowUpFailure: Cabanel was a virtuoso, so by the time he was 22, his religious-themed paintings enjoyed hard-earned approval from the art judges. One of his works was displayed in the Salon of Paris, the most prestigious art exhibition of the time, while another had won the Prix of Rome. Yet, the moment Cabanel dared to experiment a little, the judges and other masters decried him. Thus, they deemed his "Orestes" and his "The Fallen Angel" inadequate. Back then, if you weren't backed up by the Academy, your works weren't displayed, so Cabanel's oil paintings during this rebellious period had to be discovered much later by art historians to get recognition.
57	* PassionPlay: Some of his earliest artworks (from before he braved to paint scenes from Greek tragedies) capture key scenes on the events leading to Jesus' passion. Two of his most at-the-time recognized pieces are "Christ in the Garden of Olives" and "Jesus in the Pretorium". The former depicts Jesus praying to his father on the eve of his execution. The latter is right when he's being subjected to trial by Pontius Pilate.
58	* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment Academic Art is UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment's artistic offspring. Its main characteristics are idealism (portraying reality at the high end of the SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty and through muted emotions), StrictlyFormula, and favoring allegorical {{art}}works (i.e., with religious, mythological, or historical themes). Notable exponents of this movement include Cabanel. The only time when Cabanel rebelled against the Movement's conventions was during his formative years. Then, his art pieces were more open in the display of emotions and were deemed "too Romantic" by his art judges.
59	* ShoutOut: Deeply inspired by UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance as he was, Cabanel got the idea of depicting a muscular, contorted man covering his lower face with his arm from the "Day" {{sculpture\|s}} found in the [[Art/MediciChapels "New Sacristy" mausoleum]].
60	* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: [[https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealismo_art%C3%ADstico 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).
61	* StrictlyFormula:
62	** Academicism {{enforce\|d}}s this trope by requiring perfect bodily proportions, flawless composition, and an idealistic aesthetic from any artwork. At the time, if the Academy rejected a piece, then it wasn't art. Cabanel mostly adhered to those principles in order to be allowed to do art but managed to squeeze originality into his works despite that; that's why he's chosen as the ultimate exponent of Academic Art.
63	** His early allegorical paintings (e.g., ''Art/TheFallenAngel'', ''Orestes'') are an interesting {{aver\|ted}}sion. 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.
64	* TheTimeOfMyths: Two-thirds of his {{paintings}} depict scenes from either Myth/ClassicalMythology or UsefulNotes/{{Christian\|ity}} religious canon. Gods and minor deities are represented as humanoids going about their business -- [[Art/TheBirthOfVenusCabanel being born]], [[Art/TheFallenAngel falling from heaven]], etc. The remaining third sometimes exalts their human subjects by including mythical figures to accompany them in some way (as mentors or creatures to slay).
65
66	!! Conversational Troping Cabanel engaged in:
67	* TechnicianVersusPerformer: After having his ''Art/TheFallenAngel'' harshly criticized and rejected by the Salon of Paris art judges, Cabanel commented to his patron that such was his reward for trying to be a performer instead of the technician that the Academists demanded of him.
68	--> "That’s my reward for all the trouble I gave myself not to submit an average piece of work [...]"
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71	%% !! Trivia about Alexandre Cabanel:
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Context Creator / AlexandreCabanel