Paradise Lost, Book I: Satan Stands to Address His Legions Drawing

This drawing was a preparatory study for my painting of the same name. As the title indicates, it illustrates a scene from Book I of John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost is a dramatic retelling of Genesis, depicting Satan's rebellion against God, his downfall, and the eventual downfall of humankind through Adam's and Eve's original sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge -- at Satan's urging. In this drawing, Satan, now fallen, stands to address his legions after being cast into Hell. Milton describes the angels (and fallen-angels-turned-demons) as "[v]ital in every part" with a "liquid texture" similar to the "fluid air." They also have the ability to change color, shape, and size at will. Milton describes Hell as a "dungeon horrible" surrounded by a great, fiery furnace with flames that cast “[n]o light, but rather darkness visible”. Satan also walks on “burning marl." In this drawing, I worked through the problems of creating a creature with vitality in every part of its body, yet still a coherent whole; of a liquid-like yet solid anatomical structure; and of a background composed of visible darkness. After completing this drawing, I also worked through a color study on Procreate. You can purchase the NFT of that color study at https://opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/38343363332639582114029698995953025208689710162703117001294743764656573120513.

Drawing:Charcoal on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:12 W x 16 H x 0.1 D in

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