Overview

Examining who he is, and particularly how and why he looks the way he does as a response to changing political and social conditions, this book discusses what the Devil has looked like in painting and sculpture from the 6th to the 16th century, based on specific examples and using original sources. The ideological function of the Devil differed, for example, before the 10th century, and during the 11th and 12th centuries and the Renaissance, which is a central reason why he is quite different in Romanesque Apocalypses and in Gothic Last Judgements. Defining the Church's changing response to heresies is another way in which the book explores how the Devil's role and visual image in painting and sculpture was politically conditioned.

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9780948462672

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Reviews

'Highly entertaining and informative... This is a book worth arguing with, written with verve, wit and passion. It is also lavishly illustrated. I enjoyed every minute of it.' The Spectator 'As comprehensive a guide as anyone could wish to the appearances of the Evil One in art and literature throughout the age.' The Herald

Our communal obsessions seem to have shifted - at least in the area of supernatural beings: Angels are passe, the Devil is in. Andrew Delbanco calls for his resurrection; psychoanalyst Carl Goldberg uses the phrase speaking with the devil as a metaphor for his work with malevolent patients; Elaine Pagels scrutinizes Satan's roots. Even Philip Roth's Mickey Sabbath (or is it Mickey Sabbat?) bears a striking resemblance to the proud, rebellious, orgiastic Prince of Darkness. And now we are treated to his image in art. Link, a scholar of Elizabethan drama, considers the development of Satan in Western sculpture and painting: the supposed impact of the hairy, horned Pan; the role of the Egyptian dwarf deity, Bes; the addition of black bat-wings in the 14th century, in the work of Giotto. But, according to Link, the Devil never attained the power in visual art that he did in literature. Just as well - he is perhaps a creature who flourishes best in the imagination. But, please - no books about people's personal encounters with the fallen angel. (Kirkus Reviews)

Professor Link traces the history of the Devil from his pre-Christian personality through his manifestation as Lucifer, most beautiful of angels, to his full-blown appearance as the personification of evil. He does this chiefly through an examination of medieval and Renaissance art from the 6th to the 16th centuries. His literary authorities range from the books of the Bible to the texts of Greek and Roman mythologists and the writings of the Church fathers; but his main preoccupation is to show us how the Devil has been depicted by a wide range of known and unknown artists, and how his portrayal has affected popular and even theological conceptions of his identity, personality and raison d'etre. The effect on the Christian conception of evil - pain, violence, sexuality - is shown to be crucial to the history and theology of Western religion. The text is comprehensive and readable; the illustrations fascinating and often unfamiliar. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Luther Link is Professor in the Department of Literature, Aoyoma Gakuin University, Tokyo.

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