The unsettling work of Bellver was originally a simple plaster mold created in Rome. However, the fame of its artistic qualities reached the ears of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, so the State paid 4,500 pesetas (a significant sum at the time) for its reproduction in bronze. A year after its creation, in 1878, it was exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in Paris as part of the Spanish delegation.

Such was the success of the artwork that it was proposed to be permanently exhibited in Madrid, not without first raising a strong controversy due to the identity of the statue’s protagonist. To further fuel the controversy and create more mystery around it, it is said that the statue was placed at 666 meters above sea level, the number of the Beast. This claim is not entirely far-fetched, especially considering that Madrid is situated between 500 and 700 meters above sea level, and the Madrid Observatory, located in the southern part of the park, is at 656.8 meters above sea level. So, the rumors may be true.

Despite the controversy, in 1885, it was decided that the Fallen Angel Statue would finally be established in the Retiro Park.