ldquo;The Devil holds the strings which move us!rdquo; (Charles Baudelaire; The Flowers of Evil; 1857.)Satan; Beelzebub; Luciferhellip; 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 onersquo;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 Rodinrsquo;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?
2015-09-15 2015-09-15File Name: B016XN16I2
Review
