In this work, which earned its author a scholarship to study at Saint Luke´s Academy in Rome, Santiago Rebull depicts the moment immediately after the death of Abel, just as the latter´s brother, Cain, realizing what he has done, is running away. The artist was an important exponent of the genre of historical painting, with a special predilection for scenes from the Old Testament. Both he and other students converted their chosen topics into allegories containing parallelisms with the political situation that prevailed in the still convulsed Mexican Republic. This painting may, as some specialists have claimed, constitute an allusion to the confrontations and battles between liberals and conservatives, which were at their most intense in the mid-XIXth century.The conservative-leaning students found, in such scenes, a way to express their anxiety and concern about a México which, since winning its independence, had had no respite from the fighting between the two groups. This piece was shown at the Academy`s IVth Exhibition in 1851, at which Rebull was awarded first place in the category pertaining to compositions with two figures, as well as the aforementioned scholarship enabling him to study painting in Europe. It has been part of the MUNAL´s collection since the latter was founded in 1982.
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