Study for the Fall of the Rebel Angels - Forde, Samuel (Irish painter, 1805-1828) (My University, 2008)
An ambitious painter, Forde was born in Cork and exhibited his talent for art at an early age 'secluding himself with his favourite authors and filling sketch books with his drawings'. (Strickland, p373) In 1818 he began formal training at the Cork School of Art. He took to scene painting and worked as teacher, scenery painter at the Cork Theatre and decorative painter of houses. He began to realize his own visions of great poetic subjects such as, 'The Vision of Tragedy' and 'The Fall of the Rebel Angels' at about age 20 until his health failed him three years later.The present grisaille is clearly dependent on Michaelangelo's 'Last Judgment' and possibly Fuseli. (Crookshank & Glin, Ireland's Painters 1600-1940. p239)
Keywords: Paradise Lost; Angels; Religion in art; Christianity; Art, Irish; Drawing, Irish; subject paintings