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nebroadweAnother great woodcut this morning, from an early Florentine printing of Savonarola's Compendio di Revelatione. (The printer clearly liked it, because it shows up in two different spots in the book.) The BMC entry remarks, blandly enough, that this illustration "represents the devil disputing with Savonarola and four female saints." What they don't mention is that the devil is habited as a Dominican (friars get a lot of bad press at this point in European history; they wander around too much) with horns protruding through his hood and ...
ETA: My boss reminds me that Savonarola was a Dominican (argh -- like he doesn't have "Ordinis Predicatorum" after his name on every single title page I've read in the past week [headdesk]) and suggests that perhaps the infernal being pictured is his own personal demon. :-)
ETA the Second:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
juxtaposie introduces me to the "devil in the dance-hall" tale. Brunvand and Hickman's Encyclopedia of Urban Legends calls it "an old and widely distributed supernatural legend with prototypes in European folklore. In the New World it is especially popular among French Canadians, French-speaking Louisianans, and particularly Mexican Americans" -- the latter seem to prefer chicken feet as the devil's distinguishing mark in their versions of the story.
... chicken feet peeking out from under the hem of his tunic. ("I knew the cloven hooves would be a dead giveaway, Master Screwtape, but since we can't do human feet, I thought I'd have a go at confusing them! I mean, whoever heard of a devil with chicken legs, eh?" "Very ... inventive, Wormwood. Now come here -- and bring the honey-mustard sauce with you ...")... waaaait for it ...
ETA: My boss reminds me that Savonarola was a Dominican (argh -- like he doesn't have "Ordinis Predicatorum" after his name on every single title page I've read in the past week [headdesk]) and suggests that perhaps the infernal being pictured is his own personal demon. :-)
ETA the Second:
juxtaposie introduces me to the "devil in the dance-hall" tale. Brunvand and Hickman's Encyclopedia of Urban Legends calls it "an old and widely distributed supernatural legend with prototypes in European folklore. In the New World it is especially popular among French Canadians, French-speaking Louisianans, and particularly Mexican Americans" -- the latter seem to prefer chicken feet as the devil's distinguishing mark in their versions of the story.