3-081-197 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Doctor Faustus Conjuring Mephistophilis, 1929. Faustus, a scholar, dabbles in necromancy and summons a Devil named Mephistophilis, who persuades Faustus to sell his soul to Lucifer. In this image, two linked dramas are enacted inside a timber framed building, the geometry of the setting influenced by Renaissance paintings that Ravilious had seen in Italy. A good angel confronts a bad angel, outlined by dark shadows, in the upper storey. Beneath, Faustus inside the magic circle conjures up the devil.