Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Copyright
Copyright 1971 by Dover Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Bibliographical Note
Devils, Demons and Witchclc'1ft: 244 I1ll1stlc'1tions for Artists is a
new work, first published by Dover Publications, Inc., in 1971.
The first three printings appeared under the title Devils, Demons,
Dealh and Damnalion.
DOVER
Pi{forialcArchive
SERIES
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
INTRODUCTION
Devils and Demons
Casus Luciferi
Faust and Mephistopheles
Hell and Damnation
The Apocalyptic Horsemen
Witches and Warlocks
Witch-Hunting
Ars Moriendi
Danse Macabre
Memento Mori
Resurrection and Reckoning
Religio-Political Devilry
2. The Evil Spirit figured as a black bird whispering into the ear
of a magician. From a French manuscript Hortus Deliciamm,
eleventh century.
INTRODUCTION
Throughout history, artists have grappled with the problem of
depicting clearly and forcefully the principles of evil and
suffering in human existence. Religion, folk beliefs and
individual imagination, independently or in fertile combinations,
have provided powerful visual realizations of these themes.
.-'"
'J
.,
12. Angel and Devil vying for the soul of a dying man. After a
miniature in an English manuscript, fourteenth centUlY.
*
Meet the Devil. Nowadays he usually appears as a suave, sly man
with telltale horns, hooves and tail; but in the past his bestial
nature was emphasized and he cropped up in a wide variety of
animal and mixed forms-usually loathly, since (in most artistic
conceptions) he had sacrificed his angelic beauty when he
disobeyed and rebelled against God. (As shown in some
illustrations in this chapter, animal forms for supernatural beings
and demons were common in ancient Egyptian and
Mesopotamian art.)
that of St. Anthony in the desert of Egypt. But every human being
must be assailed, and the Devil needs many demon helpers, such
as Belial and Beelzebub, who go about the world spreading
disease and madness (by "possessing" their victims) and
instigating all sorts of vice. The vice-ridden may not even be
aware that they are playing into the Devil's hands: witness the
vain woman who looks into her mirror expecting to see her face
and sees-something else.
16. The fight of the City of Satan (Babylon) against the City of
God (Syon). From Aarelias Aagastinas' De Trinitate. De Civitate
Dei, printed by Johann Amerbach, Basle, 1489.
17. The demon Belial appearing with his entoarage of foar lesser
demons before King Solomon.
28. The LOld and Satan vying for the soul of man, who is
navigating the ocean of vices and sin. From Le grant kalendrier
et compost des Bergiers, printed by Nicolas Le Rouge, Troyes,
1496.
qe purgatoire
alnct l.aatrt
34. Lucifer with a tIiple face devoUling Judas and two other
sufef rers.
Stagnino, Venice, 1512.
37. Lower demons canying out minor chores for their human
masters.
45. Asmodeus, the Biblical demon of anger and lust (Tobit, 3:8).
48. Behemoth, the Biblical demon of animal strength (Job 40:1524). By L. Breton, in Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire infernal,
Paris, 1863.
Casus Luciferi
*
This is the Fall of Lucifer (the Lightbringer), chief of the
51. St. Michael evicting Lucifer and the fallen angels from
Heaven. From Albrecht Durer's Apocalypse, Nuremberg, 1498.
*
In some versions of medieval demon lore, Mephistopheles was
second only to Lucifer among the fallen archangels. In the Faust
story. a German Renaissance folk legend which gained literary
prominence with Marlowe and Goethe, Mephistopheles is the
devil who is summoned by the aged scholar-magician Faust and
heaps all pleasures on him in return for his soul.
It was Goethe's Faust especially which inspired an incredible
number of literary. theatrical and musical adaptations, as well as a
host of illustrations, including those by Delacroix shown in this
chapter. It was the figure of Faust as a scholar thirsting for
knowledge which inspired the unforgettable etching by
Rembrandt.
HISTORIA
on.o6aft
aucn/bnn wcttbcfc6rroten
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(f
fl(
r""tI'"
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;l:", tfd/(" (lIy" cr ron rll.
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R.\ r
1.\
i r
PR 1
rn1
IL Ii C I O.
(BrDrud'fJlJ 4ndfurtlUDmnl
"'.].'/I/I t3pICS.
55. Title page from the oldest extant book about Dr. Johannes
Faust, HistOlY of Dr. Johannes Faust, the Notorious Sorcerer and
Master of Black Magic, printed by Johann Spies, Frc"'mkf11l1, 1587.
56. Title page from the oldest extant English chapbook edition of
Christopher MaIlowe's The Tra.gicall Historie of the Life and
Death of Doctor Faustus, published by John Wright, London,
1631.
COM OE D
(A NT
EN
HANNESF AUSTUS
D.TO
)'/lt'llomljfl iiljer 'JMIIOr i ng 'u i9tf!t von
I,
.3n tlt,r"
!f
r(l
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WI \Ia!!lo2ld. 2BirO ptC "'i-llbClUlj}lf.
\!lnR ,.,,'UIII1_rll-
errallt
58. Playbill for the oldest German Faust comedy, The Life and
Death of the Great Arch-Sorcerer Dr. Johannes Faustlls, Bremen,
1688.
59.
60.
61.
*
In Christian belief. Hell is the place where sinners are punished
after death. Dante's Inferno contains the most vivid descriptions
of the sufferings inflicted on the damned by the demons of Hell.
Similar places of punishment in the afterlife form part of other
religious beliefs, especially popular Buddhism in the Far East.
Two illustrations in this chapter show a scene of judging of souls
in ancient Egyptian religion and a modern depiction of the
punishments in Hades of three arch-sinners of ancient Greek
mythology: Tantalus was never allowed to taste of the fruit and
water that were so near to him; Sisyphus had constantly to roll a
huge rock to the top of a hill, from which it would just as
constantly roll back; Ixion was fastened to a perpetually turning
wheel.
62. Judgment
INfERNO.
66.
67. Infernal punishment for the Seven Deadly Sins: the prideful
are broken on the wheel. From Le grant kalendrier et compost
des Bergiers, printed by Nicolas Le Rouge, Troyes, 1496.
68. Infernal punishment for the Seven Deadly Sins: the envious
are immersed in freezing water. From Le grant kalendrier et
compost des Bergiers, printed by Nicolas Le Rouge, Troyes,
1496.
69. Infernal punishment for the Seven Deadly Sins: the angry are
dismembered alive. From Le grant kalendrier et compost des
Bergiers, printed by Nicolas Le Rouge, Troyes, 1496.
70. Infernal punishment for the Seven Deadly Sins: the slothful
are thrown into snake-pits. From Le grant kalendIier et compost
des Bergiers, pIinted by Nicolas Le Rouge, TIvyes, 1496.
71. Infernal punishment for the Seven Deadly Sins: the greedy are
put into cauldrons of boiling oil. From Le gra.nt kalendrier et
compost des Bergiers, printed by Nicolas Le Rouge, Troyes,
1496.
72. Infernal panishment for the Seven Deadly Sins: the gluttonous
are forcefed on toads, rats and snakes. From Le grant kalendIier
et compost des Bergiers, pIinted by Nicolas Le Rouge, Troyes,
1496.
73. Infernal punishment for the Seven Deadly Sins: the lustful are
smothered in fire and brimstone. From Le grant kalendrier et
compost des Bergiers, printed by Nicolas Le Rouge, Troyes,
1496.
75. The souls of sinners delivered into the mouth of Hell. From a
xylographic blockbook, Opera, engraved and printed by Giovanni
Andrea Vavassore, Venice, 1510.
gOfrllemcof,,3!',,ofhrll
tCPI parlramm! of y mApOt mrlOC
77. Title page showing the jaws of Hell with Lucifer and Satan.
From the Livre de la Deablerie. printed by Michel Le Nair. Pads.
1568.
*
The true practicing witches of the late Middle Ages, Renaissance
and later periods (as distinguished from mentally ill or asocial
people accused of witchcraft) were most likely stubborn
adherents of pre-Christian pagan religious beliefs in which the
deity or deities (for Christians, the Devil and his demons) partook
,--"
93, 94. Witch and wizard riding to the Sabbath. From UlIich
Molitor's Hexen Meysterey, 1545.
96. Satan (plato) holding coal1 for newly anointed witches. From
Gerard d'Eaphra.tes' Livre de 1'histoire & ancienne croniqae,
printed by E. Groalleaa, Paris, 1549.
107. Macbeth and the three witches (Act IV, Scene i). From N.
Rowe's first illl1stra.ted edition of William Shakespeare's WOlkes,
printed by Tonson, London, 1 709.
Witch-Hunting
*
Witchcraft was combated fiercely by both Catholics and
Protestants, with civil authorities lending a firm hand to the
Church. The many executions of Protestants and Jews by the
Catholic Inquisition is shown in several illustrations here as an
analogous phenomenon. The most famous witch hunt in America
(literally speaking) took place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692
and had Cotton Mather as its theorist.
.I,,"'
116. Newsletter about the infernal deeds and the execution of the
witch Anna EbeIlehIin, printed by Elias Wellhoffe, "Briefmaier"
at Augsbwg, 1669.
118. The pact with the infernal powers allegedly signed by Father
Urbain Grc"mdier and countersigned by Lucifer, Beelzebub, Satan,
Elimi, Leviathan, Asteroth and BaalbaIith. Loudun, 1634.
OBSERVATIONS
_
_
DEVILS
,,colnj):W'y d willi.
JiYTotlCilgfa-.:.!:
___
_
r693.
1693.
The WO/lders
oj the In'Vifihle
World :
T R Y A L S
OF
g'$cbcral ttcbCg.
Lakl'j Exclltt'd iQ
NE W-ENGL
A N D:
,. Obrtr.ltiom 1.lpon rhe NI!tt, the- NlIlllbH, lld tile Opt:lnifI of'chc Dc,ih.
IK"
By
COTToN MATHER.
-
-_.
Printed firf1:,
J.}tI for
at R'1l1n in
J(J'''' ]'11("'0".
Nm'.f"gfntJ.
and
Ro!prlnrrd
ilt
Lon.
H)II).
Ars Moriendi
*
In medieval belief, demons lay in wait at the bedside of the dying
123. Death chamber. From an Italian Arte del Bene Mor ire,
Florence, about 1495.
Pita morttnbi t
X"rii9 r/i Ir(i1rG colfeeta dim (i"lIri9 3D rcriltCllOO
ill mOllie. Jl\Ol1ctlioboli(cfilg:;c1ti111 ",leha mi
"bet tCblillinocli\'1ili::; ac mulml1l necdfaria.
Danse Macabre
*
A favorite medieval theme, connected with the view of the world
as mere vanity. was the leveling of all social classes and ranks in
death-with Death aptly personified as the bare, unidentifiable.
universal skeleton. At first in church frescoes and then in dozens
of books, the theme of Death seizing all men from emperors to
peasants became popular throughout Europe. The woodcut
illustrations of the Dance of Death by Hans Holbein the Younger
(eight of which are reproduced in this chapter) are the most
famous of alL
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142. Death and the gentleman. From Der Doten Dantz (Dance of
the Dead), printed by Heinrich Knoblochzel Heidelberg, 1490.
143. Death and the notables. From Der Doten Dantz, pIinted by
Jacob Meydenbach, Mainz, 1492.
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145. Death and the landowner. From Der Doten Dantz, pIinted
by Heimich Knoblochzel Heidelberg, 1490.
ccLxt![[
t:dl.-.:fuppba)un.'fIiJ d1UTdr_
150. Three revelers meet three cOlpses who warn them to repent.
From Horae, pIinted by Wynkyn de Worde, Westminstel 1494.
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167. "The dalJnce of Machabree, " from John Lydgate's The Fall
of PIinces, pIinted by Richard Toftel, London, 1554.
169. Ghost cotillion of the souls of Black Death victims who were
buried alive in 1347. From an engraving by A. Aubrey, Gelwany,
1604.
6,
29'
Memento Mori
*
A memento mori (Latin for remember that you must die") is an
object or pictorial symbol associated with death. Such symbols
include skulls, bones, coffins, urns, angels of death, upside-down
torches, graves and gravestones, hourglasses, scythes, spades,
toads, serpents, worms, owls, ravens, cypresses, weeping willows,
tuberoses, parsley, and many more. A good number of these
associations (and of our present-day funeral practices) can be
traced back to antiquity. These emblems of mortality have long
been used as items of adornment: Mary, Queen of Scots, owned a
skull-shaped watch; Martin Luther had a gold ring with a death's
head in enamel; even today skull motifs are used in all sorts of
jewelry and brie-a.-brae.
1 75. A skull-watch.
176. One of the eaIliest extant printed labels for a poison bottle,
representing Death as a WOlw-eaten corpse. By an unknown
Rhenish artist, 1480-90.
179. Death leaping from Hell on his charger with arrow and
coffin, to claim his Jights over mortals. From Le grant kalendrieJ
printed by Nicolas le Roage, Troyes, 1496.
J 82. The AngeJ of Death taking the soul, in the form of a child,
from a dying man. From Reiter '5 Mortilogus, printed by Oegelin
and Nadler, Augsburg, J 508.
lImImlbl:tftmlltsgtttt anDfmaIL
foJlII be r.dJpllJIjan DctljtDotljeraU.
hnollKanD
not
fpone
be!l8poealqurcM
1100 oneonelpfptmr.
:k.
184.
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]( ])Ilexi
11'
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luvtnal.
----
198.
199.
Symbol of Death with the motto "My glass runneth quickly. "
Plinter's device ofloost Hangers, Amsterdam, 1651 .
of All the
0,. A C O L l t C T I O N
Bills of Mortality
Fol' thL.$ Prcfcnt Yc.ar :
followin g :
A$ .lifo, jbt 9 E lX E tIt A L or 1f(;olt lf4,j $ 1 t.L :
made [0
Elcdkm MJltftr.
the
-/
204. The winged hourglass and the scythe, symbolizing the flight
of time and the certainty of death. From a Rosicmcian emblem
book, seventeenth century.
205. The skeleton on the casket and the broken tree stump
symbolize Death, and the burning candle represents the human
mind Iising to Heaven. From a Rosicmcian emblem book,
seventeenth centUlY.
206. The urn, the leafless branch and the weeping w illow as
symbols of Death. By the American wood engraver Alexander
Anderson (J 775-1870).
I think
*
In Christian belief. Christ rose from the dead, and on Judgment
Day. the last day of the world. everyone who ever lived will
awaken from the dead and be tried by the Lord and His angels.
Many great works of art have been based on this theme.
T lFl iE
G lR A V E
m.
lzul?td&I ft )",chp d}cl7f
.A
Ex('cuted
8Y
LOUIS
S C H I AV O .N i: T T I ,
InveDl.ioTl!l
Religio-Political Devilry
*
Devils, demons and similar infernal figures (including swine)
have been favorite material for religious and political
pamphleteers and caricaturists of all denominations and
convictions for centuries. Writers and artists attacking such real
and alleged abuses as drinking, dancing, smoking, gambling,
counterfeiting and usury have not hesitated to press Satan into
their service. This concluding chapter presents a wide panorama
of these polemic graphics with a smell of brimstone.
216. Jewish scholars, wearing the pointed hats forced upon them
by the law, are suckled by their wetnurse, the "Devil's pig. "
From the eaIliest extant anti-Semitic broadside, Germany, 1475.
220. The Papist Devil, "Ego sum Papa" (I am the Pope). From a
Refol7nation handbill against Pope Alexander VI, Paris, late
fifteenth century.
Statua hcrrcticorum
A N N O M D LV
StrlkD.:N TU1J'E.L
GODr 1TfU.U.
a. .
THE
S C O V R GE
OF
D RV N K E N N E S.
By William Hornby Gent.
L O N D O N,
Pdmcd "'yG.E L D.for T"hflwuJ 'B.,rt'r, and arc tobcfoldi
a
c his shop, in Ihe Middfr.Row in
cJelnto SI/lft,./"nt, 1 6 1
HolborOl'*
I.
panyofmen.
235. The Devil of Usury. From John Blaxton 's pamphlet against
loan sharks. The English Usurel printed by 10hn Norton [or
Francis Bowman of Oxford, London, 1634.
T H E
DEVIL TU RN 'D
R 0 U N D-H E A 0:
0 , ,
P L V T O brcome , ]I R Q W N I S T.
238. Pluto, the Papist Devil, falling sick over the order of the so
called Long Parliament to deface all Romanistic churches and to
destroy all their idolatrous images. From the pamphlet A
Dreame; Ol Newes from Hell, anonymously pIinted in London,
1641.
::J/,"4
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.
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C O N V E NTIO N
C A N DIOAi E .
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240. Sf. Michael casting Lucifer, the power of sin, out of Heaven.
Ornamented tailpiece from a French book pIinted in 1650.
242. Final page, "Finis corona t " (the end crowns (the work}).
From Jacob Cats' autobiographical poem An Eighty-Two-Year
Long Life, published by Jan van der Deyster, Leyden, 1 732.