The Devil in the Plastic Arts

Abstract

The devil is a character of Judeo-Christian mythology, where he personifies the low instincts of the human being. In the sacred scriptures he is presented as an angel whose ambition pushes him to rebel against God. However, his origin is older than Christianity and gathers beliefs prior to the Jewish religion. The diabolical personality is created by, amalgamating various gods from neighboring kingdoms who were contemporary deities of Yahweh.

The artists of the Christian Era, heirs of classical art, have represented the figure of the devil from the paleo-Christian period to nowdays. His frequent representation is explained, on the one hand, by the importance of antagonism to God and, on the other hand, by the recurrent propagandistic usage the Church has made from his images. Sometimes the devil acquiered animal features, both real and imaginary, such as: the snake, the dragon, the ape, the reptile, the feline, the male goat or the fly. At the same time he was represented with anthropomorphic appearance such as: the Faun, the winged angel, a diabolical baby, an almost human hybrid at the feet of Saint Michael or the Immaculate Conception. The examples we use are nothing more than a sample of the rich demonic iconography of the Western artistic tradition.