The document discusses depictions of serpents in Western painting from the 15th century to early 20th century. Serpents are commonly used as symbols of temptation, sin, and the devil. They are often shown wrapped around trees, women's bodies, or men to represent the fall of man through temptation by the serpent in the Garden of Eden story. Some paintings show serpents in battles between good and evil or being crushed under Mary's foot to represent Christianity's triumph over sin and the devil.

5. mysterious, demonic, tempting, fabulous ...
symbolizes the fall, death
associated with the devil, Satan or Lucifer, associated with chaos
evokes wisdom, knowledge, passion, evil, charm

6. Serpents
in Western painting

7. Between life and death, between the real and the imaginary ...
a dark landscape with a dead tree and a large cloud in the sky,
a young woman
and
a necklace around which a snake is wrapped
...
the temptation and the seduction, death, rebirth and immortality
a perfect beauty elevated to the rank of ideal,
a chaste and marmoreal beauty of a Simonetta glorified after her death ...
the serpent thus becomes the Neoplatonic symbol of death,
the only one that allows this beauty to be achieved
Piero di Cosimo
Portrait de Simonetta Vespucci
Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci
1480
Musée Condé, Chantilly

9. the cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence,
God or Jove, with the avenging thunderbolt in his hand,
an inscription NULLA DETERIOR PESTIS QUAM FAMILIARIS INIMICUS
("Nothing is more dangerous than a family's enemy")
and
two boys are assailed by serpents
…
interpreted as an allegory of the civil struggles that divided Florence
at the time of Savonarola
The man dressing in red would be God or Jupiter;
in the latter case, the man nearing him would be nearing paganism,
the serpent being a symbol of the Devil making him stumble later.
Lippi Filippino, Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio
Allegory
Allégorie
1498
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

12. the Fall of Man ...
Adam and Eve find a serpent and a and the tree ... and the serpent offers them an apple.
Hieronymus Bosch, Jérôme Bosch
The Haywain Triptych, left wing
Le Chariot de foin, panneau de gauche
1516
Museo del Prado, Madrid

16. the triumphant Christ, the angels,
the three Mary's, four guards
and
a crane signifying resurrection (and reputed for its skill at killing snakes)
and
a snake at the foot of the sarcophagus, referencing Satan
The snake is meant to signify that Christ’s resurrection has defeated Satan,
and he no longer holds any power.
Raphael, Raphaël
Resurrection of Christ
La Résurrection du Christ
1499-1502
Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo

19. The serpent coils around the branch of a tree and offers the forbidden fruit ...
In this work, Dürer blames Eve for the Fall of Man as he catches her uncovering
her erotic, female charms.
She should have dismantled the conspiracy of the snake.
Too late for that.
Anyway, Eve’s attitude shows that the time has come to conquer Adam.
Eve positions the branch of the Tree of Good and Evil in the direction of Adam.
Eve encourages Adam to break the taboo imposed by God
... Adam’s hands, expose moderate vacillation.
Albrecht Dürer
Adam and Eve
Adam et Ève
1507
Museo del Prado, Madrid

23. The Virgin, the Child,
trees, human figures
and
a crane and a snake seem to be in a battle of sorts,
a symbolization between the struggle between good and evil
Giovanni Bellini
Madonna del Prato
1505
National Gallery, London

27. the parallel between Pandora's story and the Fall of Man,
the double mythological and religious symbolism …
…
the skull,
the apple branch, a reference to the apple of original sin,
the vase, representing the vase of Pandora
and
the snake wound around the arm …
Jean Cousin l'Ancien, Jean Cousin the Elder
Eva Prima Pandora
1550
Musée du Louvre, Paris

30. Concealing the apple behind her, Eve glances coquettishly at Adam,
this one halfway between nude and skeleton ...
With the Serpent – the Devil – are intimately bound together by touch, grasp, bite and embrace:
the serpent is coiled around Adam and around the tree trunk,
closes its jaws around Adam's wrist, which is at the same time grasping the arm of Eve.
Adam's decrepit condition, suggests the work of poison from the serpent;
the snake's grip on Adam recalls the biting of the apple in the Fall.
Hans Baldung
Ève, le Serpent et la Mort
Eve, the Serpent, and Death
1510-1512
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

34. a charming landscape
and
Eve, a woman driven to disobedience by a snake,
Adam, a totally innocent man who allows himself to be convinced
and
the last moment before His Fall
Pierre Paul Rubens, Jan Brueghel the Elder,
Pierre Paul Rubens, Jan Brueghel l'Ancien
The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man
Le Jardin d'Éden et la chute de l'Homme
1615
Mauritshuis, The Hague

37. the triumph over sin ...
a Bible, a crucifix, a chalice, a chasuble,
a woman, here the personification of Faith, the foot on a globe,
an apple
and
a snake, the Evil, crushed by a stone on a floor
Johannes Vermeer
The Allegory of Faith
L'Allégorie de la Foi
1670-1672
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

40. the severed head of Medusa with a startled expression
on her face,
spiders, scorpions and a lizard
and
a mess of snakes ...
Peter Paul Rubens
Head of Medusa
Tête de Méduse
1617-1618
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

43. Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen, alone in the moments before she commits
suicide by submitting to a poisonous snakebite.
Artemisia Gentileschi or possibly Orazio Gentileschi
Death of Cleopatra
La Mort de Cléopâtre
1613 or 1621-1622
Collection Gerolamo Etro, Milan

46. the dying struggle of Laocoön and his sons with the sea serpents,
sent by the gods,
grey and swirling clouds,
the Trojan horse moves towards the city Toledo ...
a disturbing background that adds to the suffering of the foreground
El Greco
Laocoön
Laocoon
1610-1614
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

50. In Paradise Lost Milton writes a more detailed account of the Fall,
in which Eve has a dream of Satan giving her the fateful apple ...
Satan hovers in malevolent glory over Eve,
who is entwined by his alter ego, the serpent of the Garden of Eden.
Wlliam Blake
Satan Exulting over Eve
Satan exultant sur Eve
1795
Getty Center, J. Paul Getty, Los Angeles

53. The Virgin Mary surrounded by angels and crowned with stars
trampling on the serpent
holding an apple in its mouth, represents the serpent of the Garden of Eden and Original Sin
Giambattista Tiepolo
The Immaculate Conception
L'Immaculée Conception
1767-1769
Museo del Prado, Madrid

56. the painter, the apple, the halo, and the snake …
…
The apples and serpent are references to the garden of Eden,
to temptation and to Milton's Paradise Lost.
The snake enticed the biblical character Eve to taste the forbidden apple
from the Tree of Knowledge.
From then on, Adam and Eve had knowledge of good and evil.
The snake might symbolize evil and temptation,
but might also represent knowledge.
Paul Gauguin
Autoportrait
Self-Portrait
1889
National Gallery of Art, Washington

59. Eve as femme fatale …
a knowing look,
much - but not too much - of her naked body peering out from the dark
and
the head of the serpent perched on her right shoulder
Franz von Stuck
Sin
Le Péché
1893
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

62. The Assyrio-Babylonian goddess, later known as the first woman in Jewish tradition,
as a "femme fatale"...
a sensual and monstrous woman inciting to original sin,
a cold murderess and a serpent-wrapped temptress
...
an erotic and dangerous fusion judging by the woman's bold gaze and the snake's fangs
John Collier
Lilith
1892
Atkinson Art Gallery and Library, Southporth

65. a European fantasy of life in the Islamic world …
a room with blue-tiled walls,
a group of armed men from a variety tribes,
an older man playing a fipple flute
and
a naked boy holding a python which coils around his waist and over his shoulder
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Le Charmeur de serpents
The Snake Charmer
1879
The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

68. a enormous python in Lord Leighton's Garden of the Hesperides ...
a beautiful garden full of floral fragrance,
three languid young women,
one of them caresses the scaly hide of the serpent …
(this detail makes the scene even more sensual)
Frederic Leighton
The Garden of the Hesperides
Le jardin des Hespérides
1892
Lady Lever Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool, Liverpool

71. a full moon,
a weird vegetation,
an human figure
and
snakes
This woman charms Wild Nature,
or rather she transfixes it still in a strange silence ...
Henri Rousseau
La Charmeuse de serpents
The Snake Charmer
1907
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

75. o.esqsegues@gmail.com
Serpents in Western painting
Serpent dans la peinture occidentale
images and text credit www.
Music The Piano Guys Begin Again (PianoCello Cover)
created olga.e.
thanks for watching