“As to the Devil he owes everything to Milton. Dante and Tasso present us with a very gross idea of him. Milton divested him of a sting, hoofs, and horns, clothed him with the sublime grandeur of a graceful but tremendous spirit—and restored him to the society.”
— Percy Bysshe Shelley, Essay on the Devil and Devils (ca. 1819–20)
ARTISTS
PROTO-ROMANTIC ART
ROMANTIC ART
POST-ROMANTIC ART
ARTISTS
PROTO-ROMANTIC ART
“Devils are usually painted with Horns, Sawcer Eyes, Ugly Faces, Tayls, Cloven Feet, &c. Milton’s Devils are No Such, He must be read Without Such Images, His are Seen to be Angels still, though Scarr’d, and Disfigur’d.…No Man has Ever Thought in This, (as in Other Respects) like Milton. O that he had Painted! and as he Conceiv’d!”
— Jonathan Richardson, Explanatory Notes and Remarks on Milton’s Paradise Lost (1734)
[Coming soon]
ROMANTIC ART
“Satan was completely humanized by the 1790s. Never again do we see the animal-like Satan of Medina and Cheron nor even the stiff, puppet-like actor of Hayman and R. Corbould. Satan appears in the work of Barry, Fuseli and nineteenth-century artists with athletic form, handsome features and determined but suffering visage. Adam and Eve, Uriel, Raphael and Michael are all now minor characters in the drama. Satan is the embodiment of all that is of primary interest in Paradise Lost.”
— Marcia R. Pointon, Milton & English Art (1970)
[Coming soon]
POST-ROMANTIC ART
[Coming soon]