The mental frameworks through which Christianity has conceived spiritual redemption and the struggle against the tempting devil were fixed in the episode of Christ’s Temptations in the desert. After Him, all anchorites underwent the same trial. Making visible the anguish and panic provoked by demonic apparitions became an urgent task for both patrons and medieval artists—but not for them alone. Our pictorial and cinematic imagination surrounding the struggle against the Enemy arising from the abyss has been shaped by the features of medieval iconography, whose presence in the Museo del Prado’s collections is both evident and manifested in remarkable examples.

This lecture forms part of the series Revisiting Gothic Painting at the Prado.

Lecture delivered by Gerardo Boto (Universitat de Girona) on 28 May 2022 at the Museo Nacional del Prado.