Théodore Chassériau (El Limón 1819-1856 Paris)

Chassériau's first masterpiece depicts a famous episode from the Old Testament book of Genesis (4:8-15): a grief-stricken Cain in exile in the wilderness with his wife and children. The son of Adam and Eve, Cain had, in an envious rage, attacked and killed his brother Abel; as punishment, God made the farmer a fugitive and vagabond and put a mark on him so that he should be recognized. The sixteen-year-old Chassériau made a spectacular Paris Salon debut in 1836 with this ambitious painting and The Return of the Prodigal Son (Museé des Beaux-Arts, La Rochelle), another exploration of 'family ruptures and the trauma of original sin' (as Stephane Guégan has observed). A dark vision of fratricide and hopeless remorse set in a sinister and unforgiving landscape, the bleak but haunting Punishment of Cain was awarded a medal for History painting from the King and was sold almost immediately to the collector François-Victor-Emmanuel Arago for 500 francs, launching Chassériau's brief but successful career.