The fanciful world of the demonic, as manifested in witchcraft scenes, infernal visions, and diabolic temptations, was a major thematic category in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art. In early modern Holland, this genre was called spoockerijen—“ghost scenes” or fantasmagorie in Italian, as referenced in this book’s title. In her book Fantasmagorie: Streghe, demoni e tentazioni nell’arte fiamminga e olandese del Seicento (Phantasmagoria: Witches, demons, and temptations in seventeenth-century Flemish and Dutch art), Tania De Nile explores the origins, theoretical grounds, and evolution of the genre, focusing especially on the artistic processes of invention and imitation across numerous paintings. The book features color reproductions of more than 300 works, presenting scenes from unspecified narratives alongside mythological and biblical depictions such as Orpheus in the Underworld, Christ’s Descent into Limbo, and the Temptation of Saint Anthony. De Nile’s book also reproduces for the first time a significant number of works from...
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Book Review|
March 01 2025
Fantasmagorie: Streghe, demoni e tentazioni nell’arte fiamminga e olandese del Seicento
Fantasmagorie: Streghe, demoni e tentazioni nell’arte fiamminga e olandese del Seicento
. By Tania De Nile. Rome
: Officina Libraria
, 2023
. Softcover. 335 pp. ISBN 978-8833672267. $50.20.
Guy Tal
Guy Tal
Shenkar College of Engineering Design and Art, Israel
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Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural (2025) 14 (1): 86–89.
Citation
Guy Tal; Fantasmagorie: Streghe, demoni e tentazioni nell’arte fiamminga e olandese del Seicento. Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural 1 March 2025; 14 (1): 86–89. doi: https://doi.org/10.5325/preternature.14.1.0086
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