Good question, and great suggestion. William Blake was also putting various nefarious critters in some of his paintings during the 18th c.
In the 16th c Michelangelo did “The Last Judgement” behind the Sistine altar, and included Minos the Duke of Hell (?), modeled after one of his clerical critics at the Vatican, but portrayed himself as a flayed skin held by Saint Bartholomew.
H Bosch and Matthias Grünewald both painted centuries earlier and often including some scary figures. Hans Holbein the Younger painted “The Ambassadors” (16th c) which has a sort of smear low in the painting. When viewed from a certain angle the rest of the painting is smeared out and a skull appears.
The Nightmare – Henry Fuseli (mid 18th c)
https://www.artst.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/The-Nightmare-Henry-Fuseli-768x623.jpg
https://www.artst.org/demon-paintings/
Ah, that was blake- i didn’t ca5ch that when I saw the thread- yep, he was a whackadoodle artist (but good). I am familiar with all those artists you mentioned too- they too delved into the spirit world often. Some pretty freaky works by those blokes.
