Although Bruegel's fallen angels are artistically unique, they are indicative of the general role of demonic form in Christian art, which at its core, is no different from the role of angelic form. Demonic form is in fact a subsection of angelic form because demons still are angels, although fallen. When an angel falls, its nature does not change; it distorts. Artistically speaking, this means that demonic form is visually a distortion of angelic form. Just as it is an angel's role to act as messenger and, through the metaphorical form it takes, bring the onlooker closer to understanding of God, it is the fallen angel's role to confuse the onlooker and lead them away from understanding of God.
The form of the Assisi demons is not only closely connected to Giotto's Padua demons, but also to his angels. This may at first seem strange; but, after considering the philosophical scope of demonology; we see that it is not in face unusual for the conception of demons to include a reference to angels. The monstrous or demonic body was believed to arise from unnatural combination... Demons exhibit both an unnatural combination of human and animal parts and a departure from the perfect form of their "parents"––that is, angels. And yet the departure is not complete, since demons in literature and art often reflect some aspect of the angelic form and, thus, human bodies... Demons in art visually echo angels in several respects. They often have wings and are portrayed on the same scale as their angelic counterparts.
Begel, 8
Now the demon's perversity does not lead one to order another to God, but rather to lead away from the Divine order.
Thomas Aquinas, Q103
While angelic form depicts the clarity and natural order of divinity, demonic form represents the chaos and unnatural-ness which stems from distance from God. Of course, theologically, fallen angels are not separate from God, for all created creatures are creatures of God, so their forms still consist of natural elements. However, they are removed from God, and their physicality represents a complete distortion of the natural angelic elements which make them up into something unrecognizable.
Alienation from the order of the universe is the main characteristic of the devil which differentiates him from man. But how is this alienation expressed in visual imagery? One can find this expression in the “disorder” of the devil’s body, which combines different parts of man, animals, and insects; moreover, parts of his body are often connected in a strange, unnatural way.
Makhov, 30
Demons are disordered in their nature, in direct opposition to the perfect order go God's universe.
Begel, 3
Wings on the devil’s legs may be reminiscent of the wings of the ancient God Mercury, but they are of another nature. Being originally angelic, these wings are now transposed below – at the waist or even on the legs, thus symbolizing the devil’s lapse.
Makhov 38
This is done through visual metaphor in the same was as it is for non-demonic angels. Humans require visual representations based in the natural world to comprehend angelic and demonic essence. Just as there are a wide variety of trends among depictions of angels, there is no conclusive way to represent demonic essence in art. However, there are recurring trends which make fallen angels distinct and recognizable to the viewer, including the common use of horns, claws, fangs, lashing tails, and of course, the wings.
A visual image of the devil can be compared to highly metaphorical speech.
Makhov, 33
Artistic representations of demons through the centuries attempted to convey their dark, disorderly, and even animalistic nature through specific means such as batlike wings, clawed feet, and bodies covered with scales or dark fur.
Begel, 3
There are many other examples and patterns of the visual representation of the supernatural, their context in the natural world, and the way their message was transmitted to a wide public. Again, it was the perception of the supernatural entity that counted. Devils should be recognizable for everybody, in reality as well as in their visual representation. Their image could be made familiar to their beholders and recognizable for everybody by their monster-like appearance: with their horns, claws, wings, tails, grimaces and open mouths, etc.
Jaritz, 22
Demonic wings play a major role in distinguishing fallen angels from their non-fallen counterparts. Wings reflect the transcendent nature of of angels and demons, and therefore, angelic and demonic wings are analogous, but crucially, they are not identical. One of the most common trends in Christian depictions of demons is the use of bat or bat-like wings. Bat wings convey the same general meaning as bird wings, but they carry darker connotations. Bats are almost exclusively nocturnal, and are therefore associated with night and darkness. Bat wings symbolize demonic distance from the goodness and Light that God is and embodies. Therefore bat wings stand at a sharp contrast with bird wings, which are more closely associated with the light of the daytime sky.
However, demon wings are very rarely natural bat wings; they may take on aspects of bat wings, but the essence of fallen angels is such that true natural-ness is almost always out of the question concerning their visual representation. Demons, like angels, are supernatural in the sense that they are beyond earthly nature. However, because they represent a scrambling of this earthy nature rather than a clarification of it, their supernatural-ness resembles the more modern conception of the word: their forms un-naturalize nature. Scholar Alexander Makhov describes demonic form as the visual equivalent of rhetorical speech: it is much more elaborate and twisting than natural speech, and it is used with the intention to mislead the audience. In the same way, demonic form is a convoluted amalgamation of the original natural elements which, rather than enlightening onlookers to divine truth, obfuscates the truth about God. In a circuitous way, however, demonic form is as effective a metaphor for the demonic relationship to divinity as angelic form is for the angelic relationship with divinity. By unenlightening humans regarding demonic nature and God, it demonstrates in its own contradictions the chaotic nature of fallen angels in relation to the order of God.
To express the devil’s extraneity to order medieval art uses operations which are similar to operations used to transform “natural”, “simple” speech into embellished speech (I mean rhetorical figures and tropes). This likeness allows one to speak about a visual figure (or trope) in a quite strict sense of the word. Let us consider the case of metaphor as a kind of rhetorical trope. Quintilian and Cicero define metaphor as the transference of a word from its proper place (ex eo loco in quo proprium est) to an “alien” place (in alieno loco). A similar transformation occurs in the devil’s body when, for example, his face is transferred from its natural, proper place to an improper one – to the belly or elbow. This operation transforms the natural order of the body into the unnatural – or rather “under-natural”; with good reason such operation can be called a “visual metaphor”.
Makhov, 31
All these four types of the alteration of the natural order may by found in “visual speech” – in the construction of the devil’s visual image. Let us begin with the last type – alteration by substitution (immutatio). If we take an image of a man or an angel as a starting point, as a “ground zero” of naturalness, then we shall see that an image of the fallen angel is constructed to a considerable degree by means of various substitutions: a dog’s or goat’s head, donkey’s ears, sometimes bird’s legs instead of the respective parts of a human body, numerous “borrowings” from insects’ body structures, etc. The colour of a body is also subject to substitution (black or red instead of the “normal” colour).
Makhov, 34
Demon wings often resemble bat wings, but there are often other elements which serve to un-naturalize them. Sometimes, bat wings will merge unsettlingly with insectile wings, resulting in a wing that is sharper and yet more brittle, indicating both the demon's displacement from the familiar vertebrate form and the demon's fragility against the power of God. Sometimes, the bat wings all but lose their structure, and limp skin will bloom around sharp bone in a reminder of the demonic exit from God's order. Sometimes the bat wings are merely bat wings, but with too many unnatural spines, a reminder of the wickedness in the demonic nature. A few artists even depict demon wings as a fusion between bird-and-bat or bird-and-insect so the viewer can see the transition from angel to demon caused by the fall. One extremely common theme in depictions of demon wings, regardless of the form, are the reappearance of eye imagery, which is an interesting echo of the artistic depiction of angels covered in eyes, although it is unclear whether this is intentional. One way or another, though, it is not uncommon to see eyespots decorating the wings of fallen angels in Christian art.
Fallen angels and the angels of God are fundamentally the same creatures, distinct in purpose only by virtue of their choices. Even in purpose, fallen angels are not the opposite of their heavenly brethren, but rather, the distorted reflections. Therefore, demon wings are not opposite in nature to angel wings. Instead, the function of demon wings in art is a direct continuation of the function of angel wings in art, albeit expressed differently in order to suit the supernatural qualities unique to demons. The artistic choices that go into the visual representation of any angel wing rely on an interplay between the natural, the unnatural, and the supernatural, and when a balance (or imbalance) is struck, the image itself takes on the role of angel, bringing the viewer a step closer toward divine understanding.
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-Begel, A. (2010). GIOTTO'S DEMONS. Source: Notes in the History of Art, 29(4), 3-9. Retrieved December 24, 2020, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23208972
-Jeritz, G. (2011). Visual Images of the Supernatural in the Late Middle Ages, or, How to Make the Entities Recognizable that Are not Part of Our Natural
World. (2011). In Jaritz G. (Ed.), Angels, Devils: The Supernatural and Its Visual Representation (pp. 17-28). Central European University Press.
Retrieved December 24, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt2jbng3.6
- Makhov, A. (2011). … IN DIVERSAS FIGURAS NEQUITIAE: THE DEVIL’S IMAGE FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF RHETORIC. In Jaritz G. (Ed.), Angels, Devils:
The Supernatural and Its Visual Representation (pp. 29-50). Central European University Press. Retrieved December 24, 2020, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt2jbng3.7
- St Thomas Aquinas. 1265-1274. Summa Theologica. https://ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa/summa.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23208972
-Jeritz, G. (2011). Visual Images of the Supernatural in the Late Middle Ages, or, How to Make the Entities Recognizable that Are not Part of Our Natural
World. (2011). In Jaritz G. (Ed.), Angels, Devils: The Supernatural and Its Visual Representation (pp. 17-28). Central European University Press.
Retrieved December 24, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt2jbng3.6
- Makhov, A. (2011). … IN DIVERSAS FIGURAS NEQUITIAE: THE DEVIL’S IMAGE FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF RHETORIC. In Jaritz G. (Ed.), Angels, Devils:
The Supernatural and Its Visual Representation (pp. 29-50). Central European University Press. Retrieved December 24, 2020, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt2jbng3.7
- St Thomas Aquinas. 1265-1274. Summa Theologica. https://ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa/summa.