# Salem by Sidney Curnow Vosper - where's the devil?



## JWH (Oct 9, 2005)

There was a section in the "inspiration" page of the Guardian mag talking about this painting, and it says that there's a picture of the devil's face in the folds of the cloak. Can anyone see it?


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## oisleep (Oct 9, 2005)

is it below the person's right hand, although it looks more like animal from the muppets


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## JWH (Oct 9, 2005)

Still can't see it. The woman's left hand or our left? Is the devil the right way up?


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## oisleep (Oct 9, 2005)

i thought it was on the women's right hand, and it looks like it has white nashy teeth and a muppet head (can't really see it from the pic you've posted there though*), but on the interweb it says it is on her left hand side and has a beard 

*note, i only bought the guardian this week and last week to get the free DVD, as we've finally got a DVD player and didn't have anything to play it on


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## Groucho (Oct 9, 2005)

I can see two faces. In the folds of the cloth on herleft arm and in the shadows on her right arm.


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## steeplejack (Oct 9, 2005)

Hmmn. One of the most popular pictures in S. Wales when it first came out- reproductions were given away free with Lever's Soap powder.

the original is in the Lady Lever Art gallery in Port Sunlight.

As it;s a picture about piety I think the stuff about the devil is balls- not the first time I;ve heard it, tho.


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## oisleep (Oct 9, 2005)

yes, but can you see it good soldier, can you see it!!!


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## Cid (Oct 9, 2005)

I'm afraid google has taken much of the mystery from these things:



> many people believe they can see a devil's face. The paisley pattern forms a horn, the folds his eye and nose and the shawl's trim his beard.





> Some have argued that the caricature of the devil was an attempt to portray the vanity and hypocrisy of some Nonconformists. The artist himself, however, denied that this was ever deliberate.



BBC article on the artist
random link
random link 2


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## MysteryGuest (Oct 9, 2005)

I saw it straight away - poss coz of Catholic upbringing.


It's around her left elbow - eye, with curly eyebrow, is above the elbow, mouth is below it.


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## Dubversion (Oct 10, 2005)

it's actually easier to see in the version posted than the larger one in the Guardian.. i think being smaller it's clearer - it is where i thought it was, but i'm more sure now


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## Hocus Eye. (Oct 10, 2005)

The Devil is in the detail.


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## moose (Oct 11, 2005)

I was so mad with myself for not being able to see the devil, I took the Guardian away with me this weekend and pondered it on the beach.  Glad I'm not the only one, because I still can't find the bloody thing


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## Mas Hayashi (Sep 19, 2014)

Big devil face from the left shoulder past the waist. The nose is the green part,the eye is blue and the lower fold of the shawl is the mouth!


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## equationgirl (Sep 19, 2014)

Mas Hayashi said:


> Big devil face from the left shoulder past the waist. The nose is the green part,the eye is blue and the lower fold of the shawl is the mouth!


Um, why did you bump a thread nearly a decade old?

Welcome to urban by the way.


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## Mas Hayashi (Sep 19, 2014)

I'm new, and I just saw this picture when I was steaming." Hinterland". I was trying to find the devil face and when I found it I was just trying to share. Is the a shelf or self life for these threads? Anywho jus tryin to help sis.


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## Mas Hayashi (Sep 19, 2014)

Why did you?


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## hanzma6 (Oct 8, 2014)

Hey now...that the last suggestion was superb - the blue/green identification works! Apparently my Catholic background doesn't help when it comes to identifying the devil, nor did the very descriptive "muppet head". 

Thanks for the help, regardless of timing.


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