Abdiel (1838–43): Artwork and History

Abdiel (1838–43) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Horatio Greenough (American, 1805–1852).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Horatio Greenough lived in Italy for most of his adult life and is recognized as the first American to pursue marble sculpting as a profession. This bust is one of two sculptures he produced depicting Abdiel, an angel from John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. With his finely chiseled features, pronounced profile, and elaborately carved Greek warrior’s helmet, Abdiel resembles the Classical statue Apollo Belvedere. Through his production of idealist works such as Abdiel and his writings on aesthetics, Greenough sought to educate Americans about art and culture, and to inspire them to produce a national art that reflected democratic values.

Object facts

• Title: Abdiel
• Date: 1838–43
• Artist attribution: Horatio Greenough (American, 1805–1852)
• Place of origin: United States
• Medium: Marble
• Dimensions: H.: 61 cm (24 in.)
• Type: Sculpture
• Department: Arts of the Americas
• Reference number: 1894.562

Collection credit

Gift of Elizabeth G. H. Bartol

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.