Hemelbewoners en Satan maken hun opwachting bij God 1563

This engraving, made by Philips Galle, presents a celestial court with God enthroned above a gathering of figures, including a winged devil, symbolizing Satan. God holds an orb, emblem of his universal dominion, positioned above the clouds. The figure of Satan, with his wings and malevolent posture, finds echoes in ancient depictions of pagan deities, a transformation reflecting the demonization of pre-Christian beliefs. His presence here is not merely allegorical, but charged with psychological weight, embodying primal fears. It is a manifestation of mankind's anxieties made visual. The image of God enthroned, similar to depictions of Jupiter, is reminiscent of classical antiquity and earlier Byzantine art of Christ Pantocrator. Through such symbols, artistic traditions reveal a non-linear progression, each age reimagining and reinterpreting venerable symbols in response to present spiritual needs and psychological undercurrents.