La colpevolezza penale nell’arte. Prime riflessioni sulle trasposizioni artistiche della vicenda dei diavoli di Loudun (1632-1634)

In the 17th century, in the French town of Loudun, one of the most famous episodes of diabolical possession in the European history took place, leading to the death sentence of a priest, Urbain Grandier, accused of having introduced the devil into an Ursuline convent. The story inspired, especially during the 19th century, many works (short stories, novels, films), which denounced the tendency of established powers to persecute and falsely convict individuals held to be rebellious or dangerous. According to other artists, though, the devil dwells also in the souls of individual characters: the main Grandier’s accuser, mother Joan of Angels, was probably a slanderer, and the priest himself may well have generated her desires through his scandalous behaviour.