
Ricardo Bellver’s Fallen Angel fountain depicts Lucifer at the moment of expulsion, drawing its drama from John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Installed in Retiro in the nineteenth century, the sculpture made a daring subject part of a public garden and provoked debate in its own time.
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The figure is caught in motion, not posed as a calm monument. Ricardo Bellver’s sculpture shows the fallen angel at the moment Lucifer is cast out of Paradise, inspired by John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- Ricardo Bellver modeled the sculpture in plaster in 1878.
- The bronze version was shown at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1878.
- Bellver drew on John Milton’s Paradise Lost and classical sculptural influence.
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