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

As the title indicates, this painting 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 painting, 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." As I worked through a series of preparatory anatomical studies, I decided to depict how fallen an angel is by how strongly the colors contrast -- an outward reflection of their inner turmoil. Because Satan has recently fallen in this scene, I wanted a fair amount of color contrast in his hues; however, he still retains some of his angelic glow at this early stage of the epic. I also needed to depict Hell as made up of visible darkness. To do so, I started the background with vivid, saturated brushstrokes, then toned them down, allowing the chroma to peak through and create the illusion of light. I also depicted Satan's musculature as fluid, moving, and unsure of itself, allowing Satan's self-doubt and arrogance to show despite his defiant posture. Before completing this painting, I worked through a color study on Procreate. You can purchase the NFT of that color study at .