History Art / TheFallenAngel

* PrayerPose: {{Subverted}}. Lucifer has his hands clasped but he's not holding them in front of his chasted but very skewed to his [[ASinisterClue left]]. This indicates that even if he's hurting for having betrayed God, he no longer keeps God close to his heart nor is going to obey him anymore.

** The non-fallen angels in the background are blue-tinted. {{Justified}} since they are far away and, thus, suffer from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_perspective atmospheric distortion]]. [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alexandre_cabanel___fallen_angel.jpg This]] photograph of the painting makes it easier to appreciate.

* DramaticWind: This artwork captures TheClimax of Lucifer's story. Being cast from Heaven after a long war against his beloved God is the turning point for his descent into [[{{Pun}} full-blown]] villainy. Among other things, this is conveyed by the wind tousling his mop of hair, making this trope at least OlderThanRadio. It's {{justified}} because, for added RuleOfDrama, Lucifer is nested atop a mountain, so strong winds are no strange occurrence. This also serves to justify why his locks aren't obscuring his eyes, which are the painting's main element.

Cabanel painted it when he was still a student and nearly gave heart arrest to the art judges of the Salon of Paris (the place Cabanel aspired to exhibit it). It doesn't help that Cabanel's was the first rendition of the Devil made by a pupil; such a tricky subject was usually reserved for Academic Art masters only.

** Cabanel got the idea of depicting a muscular, contorted man covering his lower face with his arm from the "Day" sculpture in the ''Art/MediciChapels''.

* WingedHumanoid: By welding Grecorroman art and religion, the Renaissance art movement started the whole idea of Christian angels being winged humanoids. A trend that Neoclassicists such as Cabanel followed. Therefore, not only the angels in the background are depicted as young men with feathery wings, but also Lucifer, the [[TitleCharacter titular fallen angel]]. The good angel's wings are white while Lucifer's are slowly darkening.

* HotWind: The wind blowing the newly-fallen Lucifer's hair is mostly there for {{dramatic|Wind}}} effect. However, Lucifer is portrayed as a very attractive young man, therefore the breeze has a secondary purpose -- to make him look more appealing and sexier.

* NudityEqualsHonesty: {{Inverted}}. Lucifer is tensely lying naked in the foreground, while the loyal-to-God angels appear fully robed in the background. Here, nudity equals shameful behavior -- in this case, rejecting and questioning the Christian God.

** Lucifer's nudity has a double meaning. Academicism conventions dictate that preternatural and divine beings be depicted nude. Christian art, on the other hand, uses nakedness as a sign that the character should be shamed for their behavior or actions.

* HandOrObjectUnderwear: PlayedWith. While the nude Lucifer's leg is the only thing standing between the viewer and his crotch, the reason both out and InUniverse is not shame nor censorship. Cabanel belonged to the Academic art movement, in which nudity as a symbol of divinity is an EnforcedTrope. Meanwhile, Lucifer's entire pose is meant to convey tension and being closed off, and pressed-together legs are necessary for that.

* OurNudityIsDifferent: Here, nudity is not about sex appeal but about idealizing the painting's subject. Artistic idealism (one of the paradigms of the artistic movement Cabanel belonged to) is the abstraction of reality through two filters: the artist's perception and a standard of perfection. Nakedness exalts the human's body natural beauty while, at the same time, conferring a supernatural aura to the subject. It also makes Lucifer's simmering feelings appear rawer. Finally, it helps distinguish the fallen Lucifer from the still divine angels in the background.

* CornerOfWoe: Lucifer is atop a rocky mountain, scrunched up with his arms protecting his face, and doing some major sulking because he's no longer welcome in Heaven. Therefore making this trope OlderThanSteam.

* DramaticWind: This artwork captures TheClimax of Lucifer's story. Being cast from Heaven after a long war against his beloved God is the turning point for his descent into [[{{Pun}} full-blown]] villainy. Among other things, this is conveyed by the wind tousling his mop of hair, making this trope at least OlderThanSteam. It's {{justified}} because, for added RuleOfDrama, Lucifer is nested atop a mountain, so strong winds are no strange occurrence. This also serves to justify why his locks aren't obscuring his eyes, which are the painting's main element.

** The non-fallen angels in the background are blue-tinted. {{Justified}} since they are far away and, thus, suffer from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_perspective atmospheric distortion]].

Possibly, the oil-on-canvas {{painting|s}} that Creator/AlexandreCabanel's most famous for; at least, since the [=XX=]th century.

* OneEyedShot: {{Downplayed}}. Although Lucifer's angry, teary eye is far from the only element of the painting, it's its most prominent feature, to the point of most {{Shout Out}}s to it specifically referencing said eye, even at the cost of leaving out the characteristic pose.

* ShoutOut: Cabanel illustrated Lucifer as he's reinterpreted in the NarrativePoem ''Literature/ParadiseLost''. Hence, the emotional turmoil that his fall causes him. Instead of, you know, just doing it ForTheEvulz.

!! This painting provides examples of:

* VillainousBreakdown: Cabanel devoted a 1.2 x 1.9-meter oil painting solely to the subject of Lucifer suffering the emotional backlash of losing [[DivineConflict a war against his beloved God]]. Guy is not only in emotional pain, already mourning having alienated God, but is also deeply resentful about said god disregarding his opinion and sacrifices, as well as feeling shame and rage about his ordeal.

Possibly, the oil-on-canvas painting Creator/AlexandreCabanel's most famous for; at least, since the [=XX=]th century.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: {{Inverted}} as Lucifer has just been kicked out the Christian {{Heaven}}. In other words, he has descended from a higher plane of existence and is now sulking at the top of an Earthly mountain.