Conferencia titulada: El Mal imaginado por el Gótico
The demonization of Islam during the Romanesque period turned into condemnation of the Jewish community in Gothic times. The face of the Evil One is depicted with a sharp curved nose and yellowish skin attributable to followers of the semitic creed. Windowless sinagogues are seen as a reflection of the blindness in which heretics and sinners live. New colours such as yellow, red, green and blue are added to the satanic pallette. The Phoenician Baals are incorporated into the infernal pantheon. The birth of universities and the resulting growth in culture throughout society, bring with them new demons such as Tutivillus. Installed in churches, he writes down the sins of the faithful, committed during prayer time.
By the end of the Middle Ages, the transition to Humanism sees the devil transformed into a man, keeping identifiable features such as horns, a tail and talons. From then into modern times, he takes the form of an ordinary human being, making him hard to detect if it weren’t for his sinister face, hooknose, forked beard and an imperfection, such as a limp, alluding to his impure nature. Lucifer’s monstrous features fade away, his deformed characteristics becoming features of heretics and visions of schisms of the Church, a cruder and more relatable reality than that of the clichéd devil.
La portada del vídeo es un detalle del infierno en el tímpano de la Catedral de León. La fotografía de los sodomitas de la Puerta del Juicio de la catedral de Tudela, es de Manuel Sagastibelza. Las imágenes que acompañan la bibliografía son un detalle del Juicio Final de Dirk Bouts conservado en el Museo de BBAA de Lille (Francia) y le sigue el diablo en majestad del púlpito de Siena (Italia), realizado por el taller de los Pisano.