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    Lucifer Art

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    Lucifer Art

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    24 views1 page

    5 Brilliant Depictions of Lucifer in Art From The Past 250 Years

    Uploaded by

    rserrano188364
    Lucifer Art

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    Home Art 5 Brilliant Depictions of Lucifer …

    5 Brilliant Depictions of
    Lucifer in Art from the Past
    250 Years
    While most artistic portrayals of the devil are
    animalistic or demonic, a handful of pieces over
    the past 250 years have been nothing short of
    breathtakingB

    Jun 6, 2023 • By Kelsey Spicuzza, BA History

    T
    hough modern biblical scholars
    hold that Satan is a spiritual
    being with no physical form,
    artistic renderings of the devil are abundant and
    vary wildly over the course of historyB The prince
    of darkness has been repeatedly depicted as a
    snake, a dragon, all manner of horned beasts with
    cloven hooves — and, more rarely, something
    beautifulB “And no wonder, for Satan himself
    masquerades as an angel of light” H2 Corinthians
    11:14NB

    Here are Ove brilliant depictions of Lucifer in art


    over the past 250 yearsB

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    1" Satan as the Fallen Angel


    by Sir Thomas Lawrence

    Satan as the Fallen Angel by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1797, via


    Sotheby’s

    This golden, glowing rendition of Lucifer in art is


    a chalk drawing by Sir Thomas LawrenceB The
    gorgeous illustration was inspired by Milton’s
    Paradise Lost and is thought to depict that scene
    in which Satan delivers the line that has gone
    down in history: “Better to reign in hell than serve
    in heaven3”

    ···
    ···

    Lawrence, a British painter, began his career in


    childhood, drawing portraits for the patrons of
    his father’s innB A self-taught prodigy, he spent
    only a short time as a student of the Royal
    Academy before being selected to paint a portrait
    of Queen Charlotte at Windsor CastleB He would
    later be named “Painter in Ordinary” for the
    court of King George III, though most of his
    work would be in service to the king’s son, the
    Prince Regent, due to George III’s illnessB

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    In addition to becoming a Royal Academy


    member and eventually serving as the
    organization’s president, Lawrence would be
    knighted for his service to the Crown in 1815B
    He worked as a celebrated portrait artist for the
    majority of his career, and his largest project — a
    series of 24 full-length portraits of members of
    the Holy Alliance — still hangs in Windsor CastleB

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    Satan as the Fallen Angel is far from Lawrence’s


    best-known work or even his best-known
    portrayal of the devil3 That honor goes to the
    massive, nine-by-fourteen-foot Satan Summoning
    His Legions, which debuted to lukewarm reception
    in 1797B

    At just eight by nine inches, Satan as the Fallen


    Angel is diminutive by comparison but beautifully
    polished and altogether more radiantB The
    original drawing was sold at auction Halong with
    Lawrence’s vast collection of original drawings by
    the likes of Michelangelo and RaphaelN a few
    months following the artist’s death in 1830B

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    2" Satan in His Original Glory


    by William Blake

    Satan in His Original Glory by William Blake, 1805, via Tate

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    William Blake’s watercolor depiction of Lucifer


    before his fall from grace is just one in a series of
    commissioned illustrations he completed for
    Paradise Lost3 Resplendent and celestial, Blake’s
    delicate 1805 portrayal reveals the beauty and
    perfection of the Angel LuciferB Tiny moons and
    stars dance at his feet; miniature angels herald his
    approachB Unfortunately, the painting is also an
    “extreme example” of damage due to light
    exposure and is purported to be signiOcantly less
    brilliant than it once wasB

    Blake’s depictions of Satan after the fall Hsuch as


    Satan Arousing the Rebel Angels= are signiOcantly
    more masculine: a Herculean nude lording over
    the souls of the damnedB Later illustrations
    incorporated a new method of relief etching
    HBlake’s own inventionN he called Illuminated
    PrintingB

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    Though his body of work is now considered to


    be the epitome of Romanticism, Blake was largely
    discounted and even derided during his lifetimeB
    A London native from a modest family, he
    struggled to make a name for himself among the
    wealthy cadre of artists of the dayB

    Blake was also something of an eccentric; he


    claimed to experience visions, writing and
    illustrating a series of 12 prophetic novels in
    verse based around a mythology entirely of his
    own makingB Most of his writings were dismissed
    at the time, but his poem The Tyger remains one
    of the English language’s most recognizable for
    childrenB

    ···

    3" The Fallen Angel by


    Alexandre Cabanel

    L’Ange Dechu HThe Fallen AngelN by Alexandre Cabanel, 1847, via


    Musée Fabre, Montpellier

    Alexandre Cabanel was just 24 years old when he


    debuted L’Ange Dechu at the Paris SalonB A
    classically trained painter in the Academic style,
    Cabanel enjoyed moderate success during his
    years as a student, even winning a prestigious
    scholarship from King Louis XIV to study the
    works of the Old Masters in RomeB

    ···

    Critics were taken aback by the 1847 submission


    of The Fallen Angel; while religious and
    mythological scenes were par for the course in
    mid-19th century Europe, depictions of Lucifer
    in art — especially in angelic form — were
    deOnitely notB

    When the initial shock wore oj, their assessment


    was less than kattering: too romantic, imprecise,
    inadequateB And yet the piece has inarguably gone
    down in history as Cabanel’s most recognizableB
    Likely also inspired by Paradise Lost, Cabanel lays
    bare a Lucifer immediately following his casting
    down from heavenB He is beautiful, arresting,
    humiliated, and deOant, a single hot tear sliding
    from angry, red-rimmed eyesB

    Cabanel had moderate success in the decade


    following, but it wasn’t until 1863 that he
    became a household nameB His Birth of Venus
    Hpainted nearly 400 years after Botticelli’s famed
    renditionN was a favorite of the 1863 Paris SalonB
    The painting, which depicts Venus reclining nude
    across the waves while a group of putti kits
    around overhead, was purchased by Napoleon III
    for his personal collectionB

    ···

    The Fallen Angel is housed at the Musée Fabre in


    Montpellier, France, while Birth of Venus resides
    in the Musée d’OrsayB

    4" Le Génie du Mal :L’Ange du


    Mal< by Joseph and
    Guillaume Geefs

    In 1837, StB Paul’s Cathedral in Belgium


    commissioned a young artist named Joseph Geefs
    to sculpt several statues, including one of LuciferB
    The white marble statue, called The Evil Angel and
    later The Evil Genius, was installed in the church
    in 1842 — and promptly removed within the
    yearB

    ···

    Le Génie du Mal by Joseph Geefs, 1842 HleftN; & Le Génie du Mal


    by Guillaume Geefs, 1848 HrightN; via Basler Zeitung

    The statue depicts a slim-built, young Lucifer


    with soft curls and a thoughtful expression, a
    scrap of fabric slipping down one thighB He
    would be easy to confuse with any other angel,
    but for his bat-like, membranous wings and the
    serpent coiled at his feetB

    ···

    Overall, the church and its parishioners found the


    statue to be too innocent looking, too distracting,
    and “too sublimeB” It was removed from the
    church and reportedly purchased by King William
    II; later, the sculpture would be installed at the
    Royal Museum of Fine Arts of BelgiumB

    Joseph Geefs Hone of seven Geefs brothers, all of


    them sculptorsN went on to have a successful
    career, exhibiting pieces to The Exhibition of the
    Royal Academy of Arts up until 1859B

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