that devil has an additional devil face on its posterior. any idea of the origins of that? I've never heard of devils having additional devils on their butts. discuss.
Wish I knew; I think it's just medieval whimsy. I've seen various Bosch-esque devil figures before that have faces not just on their butts (and heads, of course), but also on their knees, elbows, chests, etc.
Another odd convention in Western art involving butts, which I learned about in a college English class: the angel-like personification of Fame was often pictured with two trumpets, one symbolizing good reputation, and the other bad. The Fame angel would blow the horn for good reputation with her mouth, and apply the horn for bad reputation to her ass. More discreet artists simply drew the angel as holding the bad horn in her other hand (i.e. not actually using it).
By the way, both of these topics are difficult to Google for. Wish I had the appropriate images here to support my extravagant butt-related claims.
whoa, i hadn't even noticed the butt-face! that's... interesting.
also interesting is what the devil is actually trying to do here? he seems to be trying to communicate with the priest, holding out this book and such. is he trying to persuade him of something? if so, is he totally nuts? what medieval catholic priest is even going to listen to some kind of logical argument given by a dude with tusks and three eyes and bat wings and a face-butt?
Once while still in high school, a college-age type kid came around our suburban neighborhood home trying to sell a set of encylopedias. This must have been 1996 or something, the last gasp of door to door college-age type encyclopedia salesman. The sad face of the devil in this image reminds me of that college-aged encyclopedia salesman's face, when he realized my parents were not going to buy the encyclopedias. The priest is not going to buy his Reader's Digest Guide to Evil, or whatever it is he's hawking, and he realizes he's going back to Winthrop College to finish his sociology degree saddled with the type of student loan debt that he's going to have to sell his own soul to himself to pay back.
While I like your version better, Basil, I feel obligated to share this tidbit I found through Google -- it's a letter written in 1985, of all things, to the editor of the New York Times (gotta love the Internet):
In connection with a review of Jeffrey Burton Russell's book ''Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages'' (April 28), you printed a picture of St. Wolfgang and the Devil with the erroneous caption ''St. Wolfgang repels the Devil with a sign of the cross.'' Actually, St. Wolfgang here is compelling the Devil to hold the Gospel book for him and thus to share in the worship of God. The original painting is by Michael Pacher and is part of the magnificent 15th-century Altar of the Church Fathers, now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. ROBERT KRAMER Bronx
All hail the nerdliness of Robert Kramer of the Bronx.
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Another odd convention in Western art involving butts, which I learned about in a college English class: the angel-like personification of Fame was often pictured with two trumpets, one symbolizing good reputation, and the other bad. The Fame angel would blow the horn for good reputation with her mouth, and apply the horn for bad reputation to her ass. More discreet artists simply drew the angel as holding the bad horn in her other hand (i.e. not actually using it).
By the way, both of these topics are difficult to Google for. Wish I had the appropriate images here to support my extravagant butt-related claims.
Reply
also interesting is what the devil is actually trying to do here? he seems to be trying to communicate with the priest, holding out this book and such. is he trying to persuade him of something? if so, is he totally nuts? what medieval catholic priest is even going to listen to some kind of logical argument given by a dude with tusks and three eyes and bat wings and a face-butt?
Reply
Reply
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/02/books/l-st-wolfgang-and-the-devil-019553.html
To the Editor:
In connection with a review of Jeffrey Burton Russell's book ''Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages'' (April 28), you printed a picture of St. Wolfgang and the Devil with the erroneous caption ''St. Wolfgang repels the Devil with a sign of the cross.'' Actually, St. Wolfgang here is compelling the Devil to hold the Gospel book for him and thus to share in the worship of God. The original painting is by Michael Pacher and is part of the magnificent 15th-century Altar of the Church Fathers, now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. ROBERT KRAMER Bronx
All hail the nerdliness of Robert Kramer of the Bronx.
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