Restorers working on Sir Joshua Reynolds’s late painting The Death of Cardinal Beaufort recently uncovered a haunting detail – the image of a demon hovering over the dying cardinal. This discovery provides insight into Reynolds’s unconventional artistic choices and the shifting attitudes towards the supernatural in 18th-century art.
The Emergence of the Fiend
The sinister face lurking in the shadows above Beaufort’s pillow is a surprising finding in Reynolds’s work. The president of the Royal Academy was best known for grand formal portraits and history paintings based on sober literary subjects. So what explains this Gothic apparition in an otherwise traditional scene?
We can be certain Reynolds intentionally included the demon, as its presence was much discussed when the painting debuted. The scene depicts Beaufort on his deathbed, tormented by guilt, as described in Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part II. The dramatist’s King Henry refers to a “busy meddling fiend” besieging Beaufort’s soul – a metaphorical demon representing Beaufort’s inner turmoil. Reynolds takes the imaginative leap of personifying this fiend as a visible, physical entity leering in the darkness.
His peers found the creature too fantastical for a history painting and criticized its inclusion. But Reynolds was clearly influenced by shifting trends – particularly the rise of visionary painter Henry Fuseli. Fuseli’s striking images of demons and nightmares earned him the nickname “Painter in Ordinary to the Devil.” As the two became friends, Fuseli’s supernatural subjects inspired Reynolds to experiment.
The Death of the Devil
So why was the depiction of demons so controversial at the time? To understand this, we must examine the declining role of the supernatural in the Age of Reason. With the rise of rational thought and science, belief in devils as real beings waned. If their existence couldn’t be proven, they lost religious influence as physical agents of God’s punishment.
Yet the devil did not disappear entirely. In literature demons became metaphors for the human struggle between good and evil. Though not tangible, they retained moral purpose in teaching virtuous behavior. Mental and spiritual anguish replaced eternal damnation as the consequence of sin. Writers invoked demonic parallels to explore dark impulses, reassuring readers that morality was still within their control.
In art, visual embodiments of demons remained restricted to the uncontrolled fancy of the Gothic. Fuseli’s outsized incubus in The Nightmare caused a sensation when exhibited. His visions demonstrated how Shakespearean fiends could be conjured in paint, paving the way for Reynolds.
Satanic Satire
While devils vanished from history paintings, they thrived in satirical prints. Caricaturists weaponized demons to skewer contemporary issues. James Gillray depicted gout as a fanged beast gnawing on its victim. The supernatural persisted as a powerful symbolic language.
Reynolds’s Revolution
Thus Reynolds was not out of step but ahead of his time when he added the lurking fiend. Alongside Fuseli, he participated in a revolution reintroducing demons to the visual realm. The theatricality of Shakespeare provided freedom to engage the imagination. Unleashed from their moral imperative, such fiends added macabre drama.
As an elder statesman of British art, Reynolds imparted legitimacy to these subversive supernatural elements. His fascination reflects demons transitioning from didactic tools to sensational figures in their own right. Vividly rendered as pictures, not just metaphors, they intrigued with sinister appeal.
By giving shape to Shakespeare’s metaphorical devil, Reynolds opened the door for later artists like Goya to prey upon our darkest dreams. His small but shocking flourish heralded the full resurrection of demons in Romantic paintings and Gothic tales. The imaginative realm was reclaiming its inhabitants.
This compelling discovery reveals Reynolds as an innovator, not just a traditionalist. Scholars must reevaluate the radical undercurrents within the seeming conservatism of the 18th century. As science tried to banish the devil, art dug deeper to recover him. Reynolds furnishes a missing link in this resurrection. The meddling fiend he unleashed continues to haunt our collective imagination today.
