The Fallen Angel, or Illusions Received by the Earth (La Chute d'un ange, ou Les Illusions reçues par la Terre)
European Art
On View:
Like Bacchantes Embracing and Damned Women (both on view nearby), this work presents a scene of lovemaking between two women, with a title that transports the figures to a time or place removed from the viewer’s own. The Fallen Angel appears set in a world of allegory, with the crouching woman, perhaps symbolizing the earthly realm, drawing the winged female into a gentle embrace. Both figures seem to emerge organically from the ground.
MEDIUM
Bronze
DATES
by 1900; cast before 1952
DIMENSIONS
20 1/2 x 32 3/4 x 22 1/4 in. (52.1 x 83.2 x 56.5 cm)
(show scale)
MARKINGS
Lower edge, long side with seated figure's left knee:
"ALEXIS RUDIER./FONDEUR. PARIS."
SIGNATURE
Top of base near feathers on side with pointing hand: "A. Rodin"
ACCESSION NUMBER
84.77.5
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917). The Fallen Angel, or Illusions Received by the Earth (La Chute d'un ange, ou Les Illusions reçues par la Terre), by 1900; cast before 1952. Bronze, 20 1/2 x 32 3/4 x 22 1/4 in. (52.1 x 83.2 x 56.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, 84.77.5. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 84.77.5_SL3.jpg)
STATE
2nd State
IMAGE
overall, 84.77.5_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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Tell me more.
Rodin enjoyed experimenting with depictions of lesbian intercourse and affection but he had to take precaution with the names, which transformed them into allegories and made them more socially acceptable.
Tell me more.
Rodin did several sculptures of intertwined bodies that seem to organically rise up from the earth.
This work presents a scene of lovemaking between two women. One figure perhaps symbolizes the earthly realm and the other, with wings, would be the angel.