Author(s): Andreas Bluhm

Art

French painter Alexandre Cabanel is famous for his entrancingly beautiful "The Birth of Venus." Since its purchase by Napoleon III in 1863, it remains among the foremost attractions at Paris's Musee d'Orsay. Yet as familiar as "The Birth of Venus" has become--gracing countless posters, art prints, and collectibles--it is but one of the many stunning images Cabanel created in the course of his remarkable career. Produced in conjunction with an exhibition at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne and the Musee Fabre in Montpellier, "Alexandre Cabanel: The Tradition of Beauty" is the first retrospective to deal comprehensively with the breadth of Cabanel's oeuvre. As a successor to the classical tradition embodied by the likes of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David, Cabanel was a frequent participant at the Paris Salons and forged a highly successful career with his skilled portraiture as well as his many historical and mythological paintings, many of which feature the artist's trademark abundance of pale, naked flesh. A remarkable retrospective of one of the leading French painters of the nineteenth century, this beautifully printed volume--designed by renowned fashion designer Christian Lacroix--presents sixty stunning works from Cabanel's brilliant career.