Isabella Mueller Baroness of Stainton le Vale
Who isn’t familiar with the famous saying, “Don’t paint the devil on the wall”? This expression is said to have originated in Vienna and came about as follows. In the 16th century, there was a cellar tavern located in a house between Freyung and Tiefen Graben in Vienna. The landlord lived there with his mother and nephew. The tavern was a popular meeting place for students and artists, who liked to discuss everything under the sun, including black magic. One evening, the legendary Doctor Johannes Faust, known for his magic and necromancy, entered the tavern wearing a black hat. He was greeted euphorically by those present, including the Nuremberg painter Augustin Hirschvogel. Hirschvogel invited him to his table without further ado, and Doctor Faust immediately ordered a jug of wine, which was brought to him by the nephew. However, the careless nephew spilled some of the precious liquid, causing Doctor Faust to angrily admonish him with the words: “If you spill that much of the good wine again, I’ll eat you alive!” The nephew remained unimpressed by Doctor Faust’s words, and when Faust brought him a second jug to the table, wine spilled onto the table again and the boy laughed maliciously. Doctor Faust became angry, opened his mouth, and the boy disappeared. There was dead silence in the tavern, and Doctor Faust grabbed a bucket of water and drank it all in one go. The desperate innkeeper begged the doctor to give him back his nephew. But Doctor Faust just laughed and asked him to step outside. Sure enough, his nephew was standing there, wet and shivering in the cold. Beside himself with rage, the innkeeper shouted, “I certainly want nothing to do with you, for you are in league with the devil.” But Faust only laughed and said, “Devil or no devil! Just be careful not to serve me like that again,” and turned back to his table companions. The topic of conversation for the evening among the illustrious group remained the devil. Intoxicated by wine, the painter Augustin Hirschvogel grabbed a piece of charcoal from the fireplace and began to draw the devil as a man with a pointed hat with three feathers, a flowing cloak, pointed boots, and an evil grin with his tongue sticking out. When the drawing was finished, Doctor Faust stood up and said to his acquaintances: “So, now you see the devil on the wall, but I want to show him to you alive.” No sooner said than done. Immediately, as if by magic, the drawing on the wall moved and suddenly a little devil with a blood-red cloak and a pointed green hat with three red feathers jumped out of the wall. The guests panicked and rushed out of the tavern in no time. Doctor Faust was amused by the commotion around him and called after the fleeing guests in a deep voice: “One should not paint the devil on the wall,” and then left. This incident is said to be the origin of the popular saying, which is said to have taken place in the former cellar tavern at Freyung 8. Today, this building houses the Constitutional Court and the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien.
