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

POLLET, Joseph-Michel-Ange

(b. 1814 Palermo, d. 1870 Paris)

Italian sculptor, who studied in Italy under Valerio Villareale (1773-1834), Bertel Thorvaldsen and Pietro Tenerani, and was active in Belgium for many years. In 1846 he finally settled in Paris where he became close to the court of the Second Empire. He exhibited at the Salon between 1846 and 1856 earning the prestigious Légion d’honneur for his work in 1856. His subjects ranged broadly from historical and classical to ecclesiastical and allegorical.

An Hour of the Night
An Hour of the Night by

An Hour of the Night

Hesperus, Goddess of the Dawn
Hesperus, Goddess of the Dawn by

Hesperus, Goddess of the Dawn

The Night
The Night by
Éloa
Éloa by

Éloa

Pollet found a Romantic subject in Vigny’s poem �loa, 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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