The Devil, Satan, Lucifer. The personification of evil is one of the most explored subjects in art history. From winged and hoofed beasts to more human figures, devil artwork changed throughout time. This article will explore some of these changes and the artists’ visions of Lucifer and the underworld.
Early Christian and Byzantine Art
The dawn of Christian art can be traced back to circa 200 a.C and is also known as Paleo-Christian Art. By the 3rd century, during the Byzantine Empire, as Christian worship was allowed to be displayed in public, Christian art would develop further.
One of the most famous Byzantine mosaics is the magnificent artwork in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, where we find one of the earliest known representations of Lucifer. However, he is not yet the horned devil seen in past representations of the biblical figure. Instead, he is represented as a fallen blue angel, winged and haloed. He is displayed as a human-like figure with no aggressive or disturbing features. Angels and demons art would become increasingly prominent.
Coppo di Marcovaldo
By the 1200s, in the Middle Ages, devil painting and representations were already different. By that time, depictions of the character were often inspired by the Greek god Pan, fauns, and satyrs: a being half-human, half-goat, with furry legs, hooves, and horns. A beautiful example of a demon artwork of the time is a mosaic by Coppo di Marcovaldo in the Florence Baptistery. Here, the king of the underworld is shown as a demonic figure with horns and serpents coming out of his ears; he is devouring humans mercilessly.
Alexandre Cabanel
With time, Satan’s painting became less disturbing and aggressive, in favor of more human and tragic views of the characters. One beautiful example is Alexandre Cabanel’s “Fallen Angel”, showing a Lucifer in human form still with angel wings in one of art’s most famous demons. His only aggressive feature is his apparent rage as if he’s about to rebel against God, creating an intense and fabulous Lucifer painting.
Hans Memling
Then, Lucifer’s painting became increasingly bestial and less human-like. The prince of darkness was then represented as a furry beast with bat-like features and often an additional face on his belly.
Let’s take the striking “Hell” by Hans Memling, created circa 1485, as an example. Here, the artist employed many of these characteristics. The devil has wings, faces, and ears of a bat, as well as bird-like feet. He is predominantly red but has an unnervingly bizarre blue face on his belly. The figure is immersed in one of the most common representations of hell in evil paintings: a rocky and fiery landscape.
Hieronymus Bosch
Surely, one of the most fascinating and unique representations of hell and the Devil was made by the hands of Hieronymous Bosch. Bosch was a Dutch painter who became famous for imaginative, heavily surrealistic paintings.
Some of his most acclaimed artworks include beautiful triptych altarpieces. The most famous of them, and probably Bosch’s most celebrated artwork, is the flabbergasting “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, developed between 1490 and 1510. In the third panel of this magnificent oil on oak triptych, Bosch presents us with his vision of hell. Here, the artist depicted the Prince of Hell as a prince sitting on a golden chair. He has a smooth blue body and a literal bird head; he also has a cauldron for a hat and is devouring an entire human.
This hell painting also differs from the representations of the time. Instead of a rocky, red, and fire-laden landscape, in Bosch’s hellscape, despite the composition’s staggering number of figures, the landscape itself looks barren with a colder and subdued color palette; it also shows some human-made structures in the background.
Albrecht Durer
In 1513, the German artist Albrecht Durer, one of the greatest printmakers of all time, created the striking engraving “Knight, Death, and the Devil”. The artwork is so masterfully executed that the engraving looks like realistic demon drawings.
Riding fearlessly through a gloomy landscape, a knight passes the figurative reproduction of Death, seated astride a horse holding out an hourglass to remind the soldier of his own mortality. Trailed from behind by a pig-nosed demon, the rider represents the moral hero as a haunting and isolated figure, marching resolutely into the unknown. Here, the artist presents us with Satan once again as a beast reminiscent of a goat, creating a strong Lucifer Renaissance art.
Raphael
Raphael’s “St. Michael Vanquishing Satan”, created in 1518, is a famous Renaissance Lucifer painting. Here, Lucifer is no longer with beast-like features. Instead, he is represented in a winged human form, as archangel Micheal overpowers him, making beautiful angels and demons painting.
Bouguereau
Bouguereau’s “Dante and Virgil in Hell” is one of the best paintings of hell. The French artist portrayed his view of the scenes of Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy,” in which the author, led by the ancient Greek poet Virgil, explores all of the realms of heaven, purgatory, and hell. This invaluable literary piece was concluded in 1320, after almost twenty years of work, and inspired many artists of future generations to depict their interpretation of the scenes. Alighieri was the first to bring an explicit description of the netherworld, solidifying the Christian concepts of sin and divine punishment.
Here, Bouguereau created a bold, dark, and dramatic scene in which Dante and Virgil witness the eighth circle of hell. The two central figures illuminated in the foreground represent two damned souls in a violent battle. The sky is blood-red and black, creating a terrifying scene.
Conclusion
As we can see, hell and Lucifer’s paintings changed a lot throughout the history of art. These artworks had an immense influence when the church was dominant, and as art itself evolved, so did hell, angels, and demon paintings. Even in a more secular time, as we live today, famous hell paintings continue to create an impact.
Aslo Read About: Hannah Teter
