[visualops]

On still another level, the artist is reaching for the deepest organs of perception in the soul. The artist wants us to hear a soundless cry, an alarm, a warning."

"That might be stretching it. Were those fifteenth-century painters such sophisticated theologians?"

"Some of them were. Some were mystics as well. In those days, the civilized world was Catholic. Life was short, eternity was always just a breath away. Salvation and damnation saturated the normal atmosphere of life. Even so, the painter was compelled to attempt a most urgent warning. I think he's saying that if we can be so easily deceived by a few strokes of the brush, by art, which of its very nature is a medium of illusion, how vulnerable are we to the power of the senses? Couldn't a flesh-and-blood Antichrist far more effectively create the appearance of goodness, while hiding his attachment to evil?"

"Theoretically. But he'd have to be quite a conjurer."

"This Antichrist resembles our traditional images of Christ. What if he should also imitate Christ in his public actions?"

"Granted, it's possible. But I can't believe a man who's that evil would be able to fool the whole world for long."

"What if the world desired to be fooled?"