The Devil S Art

In early modern Germany, soothsayers known as wise women and men roamed the countryside. Fixtures of village life, they identified thieves and witches, read palms, and cast horoscopes. German villagers regularly consulted these fortune-tellers and practiced divination in their everyday lives. Jason Phillip Coy brings their enchanted world to life by examining theological discourse alongside archival records of prosecution for popular divination in Thuringia, a diverse region in central Germany divided into a patchwork of princely territories, imperial cities, small towns, and rural villages. Popular divination faced centuries of elite condemnation, as the Lutheran clergy attempted to suppress these practices in the wake of the Reformation and learned elites sought to eradicate them during the Enlightenment. As Coy finds, both of these reform efforts failed, and divination remained a prominent feature of rural life in Thuringia until well into the nineteenth century. The century after 1550 saw intense confessional conflict accompanied by widespread censure and disciplinary measures, with prominent Lutheran theologians and demonologists preaching that divination was a demonic threat to the Christian community and that soothsayers deserved the death penalty. Rulers, however, refused to treat divination as a capital crime, and the populace continued to embrace it alongside official Christianity in troubled times. The Devil’s Art highlights the limits of Reformation-era disciplinary efforts and demonstrates the extent to which reformers’ efforts to inculcate new cultural norms relied upon the support of secular authorities and the acquiescence of parishioners. Negotiation, accommodation, and local resistance blunted official reform efforts and ensured that occult activities persisted and even flourished in Germany into the modern era, surviving Reformation-era preaching and Enlightenment-era ridicule alike. Studies in Early Modern German History

A visual feast of eclectic artwork informed and inspired by spiritual beliefs, magical techniques, mythology and otherworldly experiences. Mystical beliefs and practices have existed for millennia, but why do we still chase the esoteric? From the beginning of human creativity itself, image-makers have been drawn to these unknown spheres and have created curious artworks that transcend time and place – but what is it that attracts artists to these magical realms? From theosophy and kabbalah, to the zodiac and alchemy; spiritualism and ceremonial magic, to the elements and sacred geometry – The Art of the Occult introduces major occult themes and showcases the artists who have been influenced and led by them. Discover the symbolic and mythical images of the Pre-Raphaelites; the automatic drawing of Hilma af Klint and Madge Gill; Leonora Carrington's surrealist interpretation of myth, alchemy and kabbalah; and much more. Featuring prominent, marginalised and little-known artists, The Art of the Occult crosses mystical spheres in a bid to inspire and delight. Divided into thematic chapters (The Cosmos, Higher Beings, Practitioners), the book acts as an entertaining introduction to the art of mysticism – with essays examining each practice and over 175 artworks to discover. The art of the occult has always existed in the margins but inspired the masses, and this book will spark curiosity in all fans of magic, mysticism and the mysterious.

Showcasing Todd McFarlane's unique art style, which burst onto the comic book scene in the late 1980s and forever changed the landscape of comic book art. Features art from original comic art boards, rare, never-before-seen sketches, as well as art from McFarlane's work on Batman, Spider-Man, and the Hulk (amongst many others), and his own top-selling creation, Spawn. Also features selected commentary by the artist himself. This large format, softcover book showcases McFarlane's detailed art style at a previously unpublished size.

Florence has one remarkable distinction, apart from the honour of having given birth to the Renaissance. It has the largest and most terrible image of Satan in all of Europe. First published in 1997, this book has had several reprints due the success which it goes on having, so much so that it is now being reprinted for the 4th time in an updated and improved edition with new photos to further illustrate the fascinating image of a character ever present in Italian paintings. This books considers the meaning and the evolution of the Devil in Medieval and Renaissance Art in Florence, and by means of a careful analysis of the surviving works of art of the period, it pays attention to the least significant artefacts as well as to pictorial works of great importance and beauty. 65 colour & 23 b/w illustrations

“The Devil holds the strings which move us!” (Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil, 1857.) Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer... the Devil has many names and faces, all of which have always served artists as a source of inspiration. Often commissioned by religious leaders as images of fear or veneration, depending on the society, representations of the underworld served to instruct believers and lead them along the path of righteousness. For other artists, such as Hieronymus Bosch, they provided a means of denouncing the moral decrepitude of one’s contemporaries. In the same way, literature dealing with the Devil has long offered inspiration to artists wishing to exorcise evil through images, especially the works of Dante and Goethe. In the 19th century, romanticism, attracted by the mysterious and expressive potential of the theme, continued to glorify the malevolent. Auguste Rodin’s The Gates of Hell, the monumental, tormented work of a lifetime, perfectly illustrates this passion for evil, but also reveals the reason for this fascination. Indeed, what could be more captivating for a man than to test his mastery by evoking the beauty of the ugly and the diabolic?

The devil hasn't always been depicted in art as we know him today. From the Middle Ages through to the Renaissance and into modern times Satan has had many different incarnations in art. Scholars say that no artistic representation of Satan was produced before the sixth century., and was only made official by the Ecumenical Council of 553. From then on, however, and throughout the Middle Ages, Satan's imagery was everywhere, in manuscripts, in paintings, sculptures and architecture. As Christianity grew and spread, so did belief in the Devil, who was blamed for illness, accidents, immoral behavior, crop failures and natural disasters. He was also said to be the leader of heretics enemies of the Church. This beautifully illustrated book by E.R. Vernor details the history of artwork of the Devil with over two hundred woodcuts, drawings, and paintings and postcards from the earliest days of printing to the 1900s.

The first complete illustrated book on the devil in art history. The Art of the Devil is a beautiful book showcasing the past and present portrayal of the Evil One in Western and Eastern art. This richly illustrated account looks at the history, symbols, and manifestations of the devil in the collective imagination. Here are artistic masterpieces, engravings, ancient documents, books, posters, postcards, tarots, album covers, comics, objects and plenty of oddities related to the world of demons, the occult, and evil. See the devil in works by Francisco Goya, Jackson Pollock, Giotto, Hokusai, Marc Chagall, Keith Haring, Albrecht Dürer, James Ensor, Pablo Picasso, Matthias Grünewald, Caravaggio, Gustave Doré, William Blake, Hieronymus Bosch, Paul C zanne, Salvador Dal , Max Ernst, Alexander McQueen, Pieter Paul Rubens, Niki de Saint Phalle, Cindy Sherman, Pierre et Gilles, Gary Baseman, and Matt Groening.

Both a master of the sword and a slave to it, Aragami Ketsuko cannot resist the tide of violence that would destroy her clan. Taking up her fallen father's 'Red Devil' mask, Ketsuko fights to save her people, no matter the bloody cost. WHAT IS THE SWORD? KETSUKO CARVES HER WAY THROUGH THE WORLD IN SEARCH OF THE ANSWER. 16th century Japan. The fates of warlords ebb and flow like tides of blood, none more than the Aragami Clan who follow their lord clad in the ‘Red Devil’ mask into every battle. But when Lord Aragami succumbs to illness, his daughter, the fierce Ketsuko, hatches a plot to save her people, no matter the cost… Years later, as Ketsuko wanders the heaving battlefields of her ruined homeland, she discovers a chance to avenge the terrible wrong done to her clan, even if it means stepping back onto a road steeped in slaughter. From writer Sebastin Girner (Shirtless Bear-Fighter!, Scales & Scoundrels) and artist John Bivens (Creature Feature, Spread) comes a blood-drenched love letter to Samurai fiction in a chilling tale of guilt, trauma, and vengeance. Collects the complete five issue series. “…wonderfully hideous art renders the plot twists into an addictive ride. Fans of the samurai genre will thrill in this sleek and splattered modern entry.” - Publishers Weekly