When it comes to the depiction of the Lucifer – the fallen angel, the devil, the serpent - artists have been at odds against each other. Sometimes too evil, sometimes too sublime, sometimes all too human. Over the course of time, artists have had countless interpretations which have influenced the public perception of this intriguing biblical character just as much as Dante and Milton’s literary works.
The earliest depiction of Lucifer can be traced to a mosaic at the Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy, which shows two angels- a red angel of sheep, and a blue angel of goats, with Jesus in between.
Here, the blue angel seems to be Lucifer, uncharacteristically portrayed. He has been given a colour that is rarely associated with the devil figure - a calming shade of blue. The goats seem to be the only thing that could be used to recognize him as the devil.
As time progressed Christianity spread. With it spread the notion that paganism was no longer a path to be followed by the righteous. Lucifer's association with goats, ridiculously, almost turned him into one. This began with the idea of associating the devil as the pagan god Pan, who was the Greek god of nature and the wild, often represented as a satyr himself. In the Middle Ages, especially after Dante's Inferno gained popularity, the devil/Satan was almost always portrayed as a terrifying, horned figure, mostly to discourage Paganism.
Peter Paul Rubens' massive oil work The Fall of the Damned quite literally depicts St. Michael defeating and sending the damned angels to hell. Here, the followers of the fallen angel have been represented as wild ghoulish serpentine animals, and the colour too progresses into darker shades. Rubens’ motive seems clearly allegorical, in the way that the good defeated the bad, and the prideful angels have fallen.
Francisco de Goya, in his extremely personal collection -The Black Paintings, used the Satan in a complete goat form in his two paintings- The Witches Sabbath and The Great He-Goat. But Goya's depiction here is almost comical. His motive seems far from trying to represent Lucifer, rather providing a commentary on how society is controlled by authoritarian figures, mocks it on how easily it falls for superstition.
Meanwhile, other artists started working on a more humanized version of Satan, focusing more on him as a fallen angel, rather than a monstrous devil. Guillaume Geefs and Josef Geefs in their work, La Genie du mal or The Genius of Evil, preferred a well-built human body, giving up the wild ghoulish featured. But the Geefs kept some of Lucifer's sinister nature - the wings on both the sculptures are leathery, bat-like, rather than resembling those of angels. The expression work on each of these is interesting. While Guillaume's Lucifer appears to be disturbed while in his thoughts, Josef's Lucifer is quiet and serious, passive but still determined.
Constantino Corti a few years later, in his work Lucifer, gave him majestic feathery, angel-like wings. But with the rest of the sculpture, it was as if he brought the angel down from his supernatural pedestal, to a more human level, trying to highlight his beauty, but juxtapose it with his imperfections- in that he still looks arrogant and sinful, but also shocked and betrayed.
Which brings me to a personal favourite - Alexandre Cabanel's The Fallen Angel. The work of the human form is without a doubt beautiful. His wings are that of an angel, but darkened and stained bas a representation of his sin. But it is the facial expression that seeks most of our attention, even if his eyes are the only part of the face that isn’t hidden. Lucifer has been visually captured in the moment right after he fell from heaven. Eyes almost red, we see a single tear fall, conveying the betrayal he has felt in that moment, the utter disbelief. But with it, there's also anger and a need for vengeance.
The concept of Lucifer is an interesting one because of how diverse his interpretation has been throughout centuries. Some like Dali (Hell Canto) gave him feminine features, some made him a monster, and some said he was simply imperfect, as is the case for all of humanity. Some artists sought refuge in the concept of good vs. evil, while others sought to understand and almost forgive his nature. It is almost impossible to say which is best, but we end up having our personal connections and little discoveries, nonetheless.
Devyani is an art, literature and film enthusiast, with a special love for all things baroque. You can get in touch with Devyani on Instagram @purple_worm