Sacred Elephant by Gustave Moreau Photo Print

Sacred Elephant (Péri) by French painter Gustave Moreau depicts an exotic, Eastern mythological scene of a Hindu goddess enthroned atop a giant, striding elephant, surrounded by a halo of winged angels in the air. The dusky, intricately detailed sunset landscape reveals the fascination with Orientalism popular among artists in the 19th century Symbolist movement. Gustave Moreau exhibited with great success in the late 19th century French Salon, and later became a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. His noteworthy students included the Modernist Fauve painters Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, and Georges Rouault. Moreau’s work has much in common with classical 19th century French painters such as Ingres and Delacroix, but he is usually considered part of the French Symbolist movement for his literary, archaic classical style and religious and mythological subject matter.