The image of Archangel Michael above is not part of Roberto Ferri's work but I have inserted it here because I need to have Michael the Archangel above the next image below which is Lucifer.
The art of Roberto Ferri came across my search for an image of Lucifer. When man is able to imagine it, it probably exists, for spirits can have many appearances and will appear to man's imagination to inspire or enslave him. Roberto Ferri's image of Lucifer could be that of a male model but the gray gnarled foot, the blood-drained white finger nails and what I think is a metallic tail cannot be human, nor can the deformed bone structure with the round bumps below the knee. Below is the image [2], [3]:
I do not know if Roberto Ferri has been inspired or enslaved by his God-given talents but to speculate on it is not the purpose of this entry. The purpose of this entry is to introduce the beautiful work of Roberto Ferri, a modern-day Carravaggio [4] minus the Rembrandt-style theatrical spot lighting with dark backgrounds.
Besides Lucifer and other seductive but disturbing images, Roberto Ferri also painted Christ [5]. Perhaps the disturbingly seductive images are a glimpse of what Hell can look like.
Roberto Ferri is not the first fine artist to have imagined hellish images. There are others, among them are Sandro Botticelli [6], Gustave Doré [7] and Salvatore Dali [8].
They each have different imaginations given the same subject matter, so I suppose that we, too, each have in our imagination our own Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, at least while we are on earth. While Hell is usually far more interesting in man's imagination than Heaven [9], it is my hope that Hell is not so tantalizing in Its seduction that one overlooks Hell's disturbing and eternal sufferings and falls into It.
[1] Image from a search of images on Google: Archangel Michael
[2] http://www.robertoferri.net/gallery.php and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X2gKh_o6mc (video with music)
[3] Interview, in Italian, and many more artwork by Roberto Ferri: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcTTqwtkOsE
[4] http://www.caravaggio-foundation.org/
[5] https://www.pinterest.com/romanotje/jesus-christ-in-art/ and http://wiki.cultured.com/people/Roberto_Ferri/
[6] http://www.worldofdante.org/gallery_botticelli.html
[7] http://www.worldofdante.org/gallery_dore.html
[8] http://www.openculture.com/2012/06 and http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/03/21/salvador-dali-dante-divine-comedy/
[9] Hell is apparently more entertaining too based on the popularity of the sinister and Godless movies produced by the entertainment industry. See http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/
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