Processione di Sisto IV (detail) 

Antoniazzo Romano painted this fresco, “Processione di Sisto IV”, in the late 15th century. The procession, dominated by religious figures, reveals an anxiety about the boundaries between the sacred and the profane, the divine and the diabolical. Note the figure of Christ, flanked by an unsettling, greenish figure—a demon. Demons as tempters and agents of divine punishment appear throughout art history, not only in the medieval Last Judgements, but stretching back to the ancient world. In Christian iconography, demons represent the ever-present threat to spiritual purity, embodying primal fears and temptations. Interestingly, we can trace similar figures in ancient Mesopotamian art, where protective deities often took monstrous forms to ward off evil spirits. The presence of this demon-like figure speaks to the psychological tension of faith. Its exaggerated gestures and grotesque features serve as a stark reminder of the battles waged within the human soul. These archetypes tap into our collective unconscious, revealing the cyclical nature of these images.