{"id":458,"date":"2018-10-25T03:26:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-25T03:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/?page_id=458"},"modified":"2018-11-03T03:22:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T03:22:11","slug":"miltoniana","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/index.php\/miltoniana\/","title":{"rendered":"Miltoniana"},"content":{"rendered":"

The statues and prints featured here are samples of Miltoniana available for purchase by aficionados of Milton and the poet\u2019s Romantic heirs who championed his masterpiece, Paradise Lost<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Statuary<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prints<\/strong><\/p>\n

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STATUARY<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ricardo Bellver\u2019s El \u00c1ngel Ca\u00eddo<\/em> (The Fallen Angel<\/em>, 1877) \u2014 bonded natural marble statue<\/strong><\/a>
\n(Design Toscano)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"A miniature replica of Spanish sculptor Ricardo Bellver\u2019s El \u00c1ngel Ca\u00eddo<\/em>, perhaps the quintessential Romantic vision of the Miltonic Lucifer. Sculpted in Rome in 1877, and based upon two passages from Paradise Lost<\/em>\u2019s grand introduction of the Hell-doomed and Heaven-defiant arch-rebel (I.36\u201338, 56\u201358), Bellver\u2019s Fallen Angel<\/em> focuses attention on the ruined archangel in Romantic fashion, his catastrophic fall from the celestial regions portrayed as more heroic than horrific. The Fallen Angel<\/em>\u2019s depiction of the Miltonic Lucifer in all his damned, defiant magnificence won Bellver First Medal in Spain\u2019s National Exhibition of Fine Arts, held in Madrid in 1878, and since 1885 The Fallen Angel<\/em> has resided in Madrid\u2019s majestic Retiro Park, resting atop a towering pedestal in the midst of the Plaza del <\/em>\u00c1ngel Ca\u00eddo<\/em>. Design Toscano\u2019s glittering Fallen Angel<\/em> is a splendid small-scale replica of Bellver\u2019s award-winning masterpiece.<\/p>\n

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Ricardo Bellver\u2019s El \u00c1ngel Ca\u00eddo<\/em> (The Fallen Angel<\/em>, 1877) \u2014 bronze statue<\/strong><\/a>
\n(Veronese)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"A miniature replica of Spanish sculptor Ricardo Bellver\u2019s El \u00c1ngel Ca\u00eddo<\/em>, perhaps the quintessential Romantic vision of the Miltonic Lucifer. The Fallen Angel<\/em> was sculpted in Rome in 1877, and in the following year was featured in Spain\u2019s National Exhibition of Fine Arts, held in Madrid, winning Bellver First Medal. In 1878, The Fallen Angel<\/em> was also cast in bronze for the third Paris World\u2019s Fair, and now resides within Madrid\u2019s Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Bellver\u2019s alma mater<\/em>. Veronese\u2019s Fallen Angel<\/em> is a magnificent small-scale replica of the bronze cast of Bellver\u2019s masterpiece.<\/p>\n

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Lucifer Banished Angel<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 bronze statue<\/strong><\/a>
\n(Veronese)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"This unique statue is not a modern-day example of Milton sculpture per se, but its depiction of Lucifer is unmistakably Miltonic, firmly in the tradition of Romantic renditions of Paradise Lost<\/em>\u2019s Prince of Darkness. Its long-haired Lucifer, clothed in quasi-classical garb\u2014cuirass, skirt, sandals, greaves, and vambraces\u2014sits atop a chunk of rock with his legs crossed, one hand gripping a long sword at his side, the other hand cradling his youthfully fair face, which reflects deep contemplation. Despite the title of the work, it remains unclear whether this rebel angel, enclosed by his own massive feathery wings, is portrayed after or before his fall from Heaven. While Paradise Lost<\/em> itself notoriously blurs those two states\u2014Milton emphasizing that the fallen archangel\u2019s form is exceedingly angelic still, retaining a considerable degree of its \u201cOriginal brightness,\u201d this sublime Satan in fact appearing no less than \u201cArch-Angel ruin\u2019d,\u201d his \u201cexcess \/ Of Glory\u201d merely \u201cobscur\u2019d\u201d (I.592\u201394)\u2014the Lucifer Banished Angel<\/em> statue seems more a prelapsarian moment, perhaps when the erstwhile angel of light contemplates hatching his heavenly revolt\u2014in Paradise Lost<\/em>, the very moment that produces the birth of Sin from the celestial conspirator Satan\u2019s own head (see PL<\/em> II.749\u201358). Ambiguity aside, this Veronese Lucifer<\/em> is an excellent modern-day incarnation of the rebel angel descended from the Miltonic-Romantic tradition.<\/p>\n

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PRINTS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sir Thomas Lawrence\u2019s Satan Summoning his Legions<\/em> (1796\u201397) \u2014 print\/canvas<\/strong><\/a>
\n(Royal Academy of Arts)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Satan Summoning his Legions<\/em>\u2014which made its debut at the Royal Academy of Arts\u2019 annual exhibition of 1797, and is now featured in the RA\u2019s new Collection Gallery<\/a>\u2014was the preeminent portraitist of Romanticism Thomas Lawrence\u2019s daring early venture into history painting. The mammoth canvas, which towers at fourteen feet tall, depicts the moment from the first Book of Paradise Lost<\/em> when Milton\u2019s great \u201cApostate Angel\u201d (I.125) rouses his fellow fallen angels from Hell\u2019s burning lake with a thundering speech that culminates in the famous peroration, \u201cAwake, arise, or be for ever fall\u2019n\u201d (I.330)\u2014the line the young Shelley would later co-opt for the dramatic conclusion to his fiery Declaration of Rights<\/em> (1812)<\/a>. While Satan Summoning his Legions<\/em> was not particularly well received in 1797 (the pseudonymous satirist Pasquin famously dismissed it as \u201cconvey[ing] the idea of a mad German sugar-baker dancing in a conflagration of his own treacle\u201d), and while Lawrence\u2019s fellow Academician Henry Fuseli accused the young artist of copying from him (\u201cit was from your person, not from your paintings,\u201d Lawrence retorted, presumably to placate the Lucifer-like pride of the \u201cPainter in Ordinary to the Devil\u201d Fuseli), Lawrence to the end of his life believed his Satan<\/em> to be his very best work. Considering Milton\u2019s emphasis in Paradise Lost<\/em> that the ruined archangel is not only dauntlessly defiant in Hell, with \u201cEyes \/ That sparkling blaz\u2019d\u201d beneath \u201cBrows \/ Of dauntless courage, and considerate Pride\u201d (I.193\u201394, 602\u20133), but that his fallen form is exceedingly angelic still, retaining a considerable degree of its \u201cOriginal brightness\u201d (I.592)\u2014appearing in fact no less than \u201cArch-Angel ruin\u2019d,\u201d this sublime Satan\u2019s \u201cexcess \/ Of Glory\u201d merely \u201cobscur\u2019d\u201d (I.593\u201394)\u2014Lawrence\u2019s Satan Summoning his Legions<\/em> arguably pictures Milton\u2019s majestic vision more successfully than any other painter or illustrator of Paradise Lost<\/em>. The Royal Academy\u2019s print\/canvas of the renowned Romantic portraitist Lawrence\u2019s monumental Miltonic painting captures perhaps the most idealized depiction of Paradise Lost<\/em>\u2019s princely arch-rebel, an image in the Miltonic-Romantic heritage rich in history.<\/p>\n

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Sir Thomas Lawrence\u2019s <\/strong>The Fallen Angels<\/em><\/strong> (<\/strong>1796\u201397), engraved by William Say <\/strong>\u2014 print<\/strong><\/a>
\n(National Portrait Gallery)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"The Fallen Angels<\/em>\u00a0is William Say’s engraving after Sir Thomas Lawrence’s Satan as the Fallen Angel<\/em><\/a>, a two-thirds profile sketch of Milton\u2019s Satan, executed around the same time the artist was working on his monumental Miltonic canvas of Satan Summoning his Legions<\/em><\/a> (1796\u201397). Lawrence had first sketched portraits of Paradise Lost<\/em>\u2019s characters as early as 1785, and his sketch of Milton\u2019s Satan, the artist noted at the time, was rendered not with \u201chorror\u201d but \u201cmore Majesty & Bearing\u201d; Lawrence later captured the same devilish dignity with Satan as the Fallen Angel<\/em>, as its windswept subject rather resembles the Apollo Belvedere<\/em><\/a>, both in facial features and positioning\u2014with nape-long, windswept hair, the fallen angel staring off into the infernal distance with glistening eyes, his Apollonian countenance reflecting greater valor than that of Be\u00eblzebub, who stands behind him. Both here and in the canvas, Lawrence captures better than any other Romantic artist\u2014or any other Milton illustrator, generally speaking\u2014the dynamic between Satan and his second-in-command: as in Paradise Lost<\/em>, Lawrence\u2019s Be\u00eblzebub is attractive and powerful like Satan, yet not as<\/em> attractive, not as<\/em> powerful as Satan.<\/p>\n

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Henry Fuseli\u2019s Roman sketch of Satan and Death Separated by Sin<\/em> (1776) \u2014 print\/canvas<\/strong><\/a>
\n(Ashmolean Museum)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"The Swiss-born painter and draftsman Henry Fuseli was the British Romantic art world\u2019s most ardent Milton devotee. Fuseli was particularly fond of picturing Milton\u2019s Satan, so much so in fact that he earned the Satanic sobriquet \u201cPainter in Ordinary to the Devil,\u201d to which the artist is said to have responded warmly, \u201cAye! he has sat to me many times.\u201d The first time the Miltonic Satan sat for Fuseli, as it were, was in Rome in October of 1776, in this sketch of Satan and Death Separated by Sin<\/em>, a scene from Paradise Lost<\/em> the painter would repeatedly return to throughout life, not least in his Milton Gallery (1799, 1800), the great and ill-fated Miltonic endeavor of his career. Fuseli, who has sometimes been referred to as \u201cthe first of the Romantics,\u201d was Romanticism\u2019s most prolific illustrator of Milton, and Satan and Death Separated by Sin<\/em> not only marks the first of Fuseli\u2019s scores of Miltonic pieces, but also perhaps the first sighting of the Romantic Satan: beautifully Apollonian in appearance and heroically godlike in form, fashioned with angelic wings and proud bearing, and dauntlessly defiant in the face of terrifying adversity. The Ashmolean\u2019s print\/canvas of Satan and Death Separated by Sin<\/em> captures not only a seminal Fuseli sketch but a defining moment in the history of Romantic Milton illustration.<\/p>\n

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Mike Mahle\u2019s Paradise Lost<\/em> cover (Rock Paper Books edition)<\/strong> \u2014 print<\/strong><\/a>
\n(Rock Paper Books)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Rock Paper Books illustrator Mike Mahle offers up an interesting modern-day take on the Miltonic Satan for the cover of the Rock Paper Classics edition<\/a> of Milton\u2019s Paradise Lost<\/em>, which is available as a print. A bulky Satan with streaming ebony locks and pitch-black bat-wings lies atop a rocky precipice in a violently reddish Hell, his head downcast in defeat, which is signified by his broken blade and cracked shield beside him, as well as his fellow fallen angels plummeting headlong into perdition far behind. Mahle does a fine job of capturing Milton\u2019s vision of Satan\u2019s \u201cfaded splendor wan\u201d (PL<\/em> IV.870), and this modern fantasy art print makes for a notable nod to Romanticism\u2019s Miltonic artwork.<\/p>\n

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Ruth Thompson\u2019s War in Heaven<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 print\/canvas<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"A unique interpretation of the apocalyptic War in Heaven by fantasy artist Ruth Thompson for The Book of Angels<\/em><\/a> (2006), which depicts the heavenly Lucifer as the Light-Bearer\u2014as his native name denotes\u2014with his angelic opponents (counterclockwise from bottom) Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, and Raphael charging in flight toward the resplendent rebel angel. While not an illustration of Milton\u2019s Paradise Lost<\/em> per se, this War in Heaven<\/em>\u2019s angelic cast is decidedly Miltonic, the \u201cSun-bright\u201d (PL<\/em> VI.100) Satan especially so. Thompson\u2019s War in Heaven<\/em> print\/canvas makes for an excellent example of the Miltonic-Romantic tradition\u2019s continued influence on fantastical artwork in our own day and age.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The statues and prints featured here are samples of Miltoniana available for purchase by aficionados of Milton and the poet\u2019s Romantic heirs who championed his masterpiece, Paradise Lost.   Statuary Prints   STATUARY Ricardo Bellver\u2019s El \u00c1ngel Ca\u00eddo (The Fallen Angel, 1877) \u2014 bonded natural marble statue (Design Toscano) A miniature replica of Spanish sculptor… <\/p>\n

Read more Miltoniana<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-458","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":667,"href":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/458\/revisions\/667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theparadiselostlibrary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}