John L. Magee / U.S. Library of Congress
John Wilkes Booth is tempted by the devil
"Satan tempting Booth to the murder of the President," an 1865 lithograph by John L. Magee. This was published not long after John Wilkes Booth shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln.
The image is now part of the collections of the U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. The summary from the Library reads, in part: "Lincoln's assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth, is goaded by a hideous Mephistophelian figure to shoot the unsuspecting President, who is visible in a theater box beyond."
Yes, that's a peacock feather between Satan's horns; the symbolism suggests that Satan is the egotistical "peacock of angels."
The image is now part of the collections of the U.S. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. The summary from the Library reads, in part: "Lincoln's assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth, is goaded by a hideous Mephistophelian figure to shoot the unsuspecting President, who is visible in a theater box beyond."
Yes, that's a peacock feather between Satan's horns; the symbolism suggests that Satan is the egotistical "peacock of angels."
