Oh Brother, What Art Thou? Beauty Versus Cruelty in Cain and Abel

Abstract

This article will consider the creative solutions developed by Renaissance and Baroque artists in relation to the subject of Cain and Abel with particular reference to the large number of depictions from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that focus on the bodies of Cain and Abel locked together as monumentally framed, struggling nudes. It will view the interest of Renaissance artists in this aspect of the subject as reflecting a sixteenth and seventeenth century fascination with violence and internecine dysfunctionality, on the one hand, as well as with the protocols of ancient and modern hand to hand combat, on the other. The subject of Cain and Abel gave Renaissance and Baroque viewe..