Cain

Cain, a paradigmatic example of Rehberg’s artistic production and of the varied critical fortune of his oeuvre, is also representative of the classicism that prevailed in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The composition presents the archetypal figure of the fratricide, with the weapon and the snake - the symbol of sin - at his feet. The figure is the main focus of attention, while the landscape in the background - showing his murdered brother Abel and their parents Adam and Eve - is the ideal setting for the human being, considered during Neoclassicism as the centre of the universe. In formal terms, the influence of classic statuary is clear in Cain’s body, while the plastic conception of the work is indebted to the dogmatic nature of literary painting in the age of Classicism.