In contrast to Joseph's work, Guillaume's
génie shows less flesh and is marked more strongly by satanic
iconography as neither human nor angelic. Whether Guillaume succeeded in removing the "seductive" elements may be a matter of individual perception. Guillaume shifts the direction of the fallen angel's gaze so that it leads away from the body, with Lucifer's knees drawn together protectively. The drapery hangs from behind the right shoulder, pools on the right side, and undulates thickly over the thighs, concealing the hips, not quite covering the navel. At the same time, the flesh that remains exposed is resolutely modeled, particularly in the upper arms, pectorals, and calves, to reveal a more defined, muscled masculinity. The uplifted right arm allows the artist to explore the patterned tensions of the
serratus anterior muscles, and the gesture and the angle of the head suggest that the
génie is warding off "divine chastisement".
Symbols of Lucifer Guillaume added several details to enhance the Luciferian iconography and the theme of punishment: at the angel's feet, the dropped "
forbidden fruit", an
apple with bite marks, along with the broken-off tip of the sceptre, the stellar
finial of which marks
Lucifer as the Morning Star of classical tradition. The
nails are narrow and elongated, like talons. A pair of horns may be intended to further dehumanize the figure, while introducing another note of
ambiguity. Horns are animalistic markers of the satanic or demonic, but in a parallel tradition of religious iconography, "horns" represent points of light. Gods from antiquity who personify celestial phenomena such as the Sun or stars are crowned with rays, and some depictions of
Moses, the most famous being the
sculpture of
Michelangelo, are carved with "horns" similar to those of Geefs' Lucifer; see
Horns of Moses.
Promethean Lucifer , who once studied with Guillaume Geefs But the most apparent departure from ''L'ange du mal'' is the placing of Lucifer in
bondage, with his right ankle and left wrist chained. In 19th-century reinterpretations of
ancient Greek and
Christian myths, Lucifer was often cast as a
Promethean figure, drawing on a tradition that the fallen angel was chained in
Hell just as the
Titan had been chained and
tortured on the rock by
Zeus: "The same
Prometheus who is taken as an
analogue of the
crucified Christ is regarded also as a type of Lucifer," wrote
Harold Bloom in remarks on
Mary Shelley's 19th-century classic
Frankenstein, subtitled
The Modern Prometheus. In
A.H. Krappe's
folkloric typology, Lucifer conforms to a type that includes Prometheus and the Germanic
Loki. Guillaume Geefs' addition of fetters, with the swagged chain replacing the sneering serpent in Joseph's version, displays the angel's defeat in pious adherence to Christian ideology. At the same time, the titanic struggle of the tortured genius to free himself from
metaphorical chains was a motif of Romanticism, which took hold in Belgium in the wake of the
Revolution of 1830. The Belgians had just secured their own "liberation"; over the ensuing two decades, there had been a craze for public sculpture, by the Geefs brothers and others, that celebrated the leaders of independence. The magnificently human figure of the iconic rebel who failed might have been expected to elicit a complex or ambivalent response. The suffering face of the
génie, stripped of the angry hauteur of ''L'ange du mal'', has been read as expressing remorse and despair; a tear slips from the left eye. ==Sister of angels==