POLLET, Joseph-Michel-Ange
(b. 1814, Palermo, d. 1870, Paris)

Éloa

1869
Marble
Private collection

Pollet found a Romantic subject in Vigny's poem Éloa, ou la soeur des anges (1823). To avenge himself for the curse he had received, Lucifer, the beautiful rebel angel in whom the Romantic artist saw the symbol of his own destiny, attracted the attention of the angel of compassion, Eloha, and dragged her down with him. The tense figure of Lucifer has very much the tormented character one might expect, but the group as a whole, which is mainly reminiscent of Baroque abductions, highlights the dichotomy between form and background that was one of the problems of Romantic sculpture.




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