In the beautiful collections of Kunsthaus Zürich rests a powerful four panel painting depicting St Michael’s futile attempts at conquering Lucifer. It’s an exquisite piece of work dating back to 1490, and painted by Hans Leu the older (1460-1507). Its contour-driven style in many ways precedes a cartoonish-like esthetic that fits the theme like hand in glove. The remarkable thing here is the apparent upper hand of Lucifer and his minions. They’re fun, seem pretty relaxed despite Mike’s aggressions, and definitely evoke a sense of sympathy rather than disgust. However, this is our own interpretation today. Back in 1490, it may well have been a different story; the archangel was perhaps interpreted as the demagogically desired; as a righteous victor over the forces of ”evil.” Or… perhaps the noble artist actually knew exactly what he was doing when displaying these demons in such a fantastic way. Only the most retarded could ever interpret them as ”evil” or terrifying. The theme...