Meanwhile, Saint Augustine is depicted as a bishop in his study. Milwaukee Art Museum, Purchase, with funds from Avis Martin Heller in honor of the Fine Arts Society and funds from the Fine Arts Society M2014.9 Photo credit: Jack Kilgore & Co, Inc. Alexandre Cabanel (French, 1823–1889), Saint Monica in a Landscape, 1845. She suffered through the erratic behavior of her son’s early years as well her husband’s adulterous behavior, before being martyred. She is shown in an outdoor setting with dark clouds moving across the evening sky, possibly hinting at the difficult times she endured in her life. Her large, soulful eyes suggest her caring nature. Saint Monica is the personification of Christian charity, shown with a young urchin to emphasize her role as ideal Christian mother. In direct contrast to Scheffer, Cabanel uses separate canvases for each saint, includes appropriate attributes, and makes clear the roles of each within Christianity. This became one of his most popular paintings. ( Here you can see a version he made of the same painting in 1854 that is in the National Gallery, London.) Scheffer shows the saints-who were also mother and son-in a deeply sentimental pose and separated from their typical attributes. The artist Cabanel likely chose to show these two saints in response to a painting which received great acclaim that same year: Saints Augustine and Monica by Ary Scheffer (Dutch, active in France, 1795–1858). They were commissioned by the important botanist Auguste Monsaval de Saint Hilaire (French, 1779–1853), who gave them to the Church of Saint Jean Baptiste in Sennely, where they hung until the late nineteenth century. This gorgeous pair of paintings depicts two saints who are extremely important to the Catholic Church. He was one of Napoleon III’s favorite painters.Īnd now, the Milwaukee Art Museum owns two of Cabanel’s earliest paintings: Saint Monica in a Landscape and Saint Augustine in His Study. One of the leaders of the French Academic School is Alexandre Cabanel (1823–1889). At this time the most highly regarded art style is French Academic painting. It is the mid 1800’s in Paris, the capital of the art world. And although that is true, I would argue that that is only part of the story. What makes an artist influential? Most would say it the art he or she creates, because most likely that artwork was created in some sort of special way.

Alexandre Cabanel by Jessica Findley