Though modern biblical scholars hold that Satan is a spiritual being with no physical form, artistic renderings of the devil are abundant and vary wildly over the course of history. The prince of darkness has been repeatedly depicted as a snake, a dragon, all manner of horned beasts with cloven hooves, and more rarely, something beautiful. “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Here are five brilliant depictions of Lucifer in art over the past 250 years.
1. Satan as the Fallen Angel by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1797)
This golden, glowing rendition of Lucifer in art is a chalk drawing by Sir Thomas Lawrence. The gorgeous illustration was inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost and is thought to depict that scene in which Satan delivers the line that has gone down in history: “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”
A self-taught prodigy and, briefly, a student of the Royal Academy, Lawrence swiftly won royal patronage. He painted Queen Charlotte and served as “Painter in Ordinary” to George III, later becoming the president of the Royal Academy.
Satan as the Fallen Angel is far from Lawrence’s best-known work or even his best-known portrayal of the devil. That honor goes to the massive, nine-by-fourteen-foot Satan Summoning His Legions, which debuted to lukewarm reception in 1797. At just eight by nine inches, Satan as the Fallen Angel is diminutive by comparison but beautifully polished and altogether more radiant.
2. Satan in His Original Glory by William Blake (1805)
William Blake’s watercolor depiction of Lucifer before his fall from grace is just one in a series of commissioned illustrations he completed for Paradise Lost. Resplendent and celestial, Blake’s delicate 1805 portrayal reveals the beauty and perfection of the Angel Lucifer. Tiny moons and stars dance at his feet; miniature angels herald his approach.
Blake’s depictions of Satan after the fall (such as Satan Arousing the Rebel Angels) are significantly more masculine: a Herculean nude lording over the souls of the damned.
Although his body of work is now considered the epitome of Romanticism, Blake was largely discounted and even derided during his lifetime. He struggled to make a name for himself among the wealthy cadre of artists of the day.
3. The Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel (1847)
A classically trained painter, Alexandre Cabanel was just 24 years old when he debuted L’Ange déchu at the Paris Salon. Critics were taken aback by the 1847 submission of The Fallen Angel; while religious and mythological scenes were par for the course in mid-19th-century Europe, depictions of Lucifer in art, especially in angelic form, were definitely not.
When the initial shock wore off, their assessment was less than flattering: too romantic, imprecise, inadequate. And yet the piece has inarguably gone down in history as Cabanel’s most recognizable. Likely also inspired by Paradise Lost, Cabanel lays bare a Lucifer immediately following his casting down from heaven. He is beautiful, arresting, humiliated, and defiant, a single hot tear sliding from angry, red-rimmed eyes.
4. Le Génie du Mal (L’Ange du Mal) by Joseph and Guillaume Geefs (1847–48)
In 1837, St. Paul’s Cathedral in Belgium commissioned a young artist named Joseph Geefs to sculpt several statues, including one of Lucifer. The white marble statue, known as The Evil Angel and later as The Evil Genius, was installed in the church in 1842. It was removed within the year.
The statue depicts a youthful, slim Lucifer with soft curls and a thoughtful expression, a scrap of fabric slipping down one thigh. He would be easy to confuse with any other angel—except for his bat-like, membranous wings and the serpent coiled at his feet.
Overall, the church and its parishioners found the statue to be too innocent looking, too distracting, and “too sublime.” St. Paul’s commissioned one of Joseph’s older brothers, Guillaume, to sculpt a replacement for the statue of Lucifer. Guillaume returned in 1848 with an even more striking rendition of the devil. His Lucifer is imposing: powerful in form and tortured in expression, with small horns emerging from his swept-back hair.
Importantly, he also appears in a position of defeat. His head is down, his right ankle shackled like Prometheus. Near his taloned toenails are an apple, conspicuously bitten, and a scepter topped with a star. These items evoke the apple that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and a passage from Isaiah: “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!” Le Génie du Mal remains on display at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Liège, Belgium.
5. Lucifero by Roberto Ferri (2013)
The Italian painter Roberto Ferri depicts traditional academic themes with a contemporary twist. Ferri’s work is occasionally shocking and always stunning. His renditions of Lucifer in art are no exception.
Ferri’s paintings are academically-oriented in theory, focusing primarily on religious and mythological themes. However, he pushes the envelope in practice. With traditionally angelic wings in an inky black and dark hair curling away from sulky, classical features, Lucifero is a perfect contrast to the archetypal angel.
The painting evokes Guillaume Geefs’ Le Génie du Mal. Lucifer appears as Prometheus, his gangrenous foot chained to the stone on which he perches. But where Geefs’ Lucifer emanates defeat, Ferri’s maintains an air of nobility and pride in both posture and countenance.
