From Slavic Folklore to Nosferatu: How the Vampire Took Over Literature and Art
Revenants that consume blood are found in various global myths, such as West Africa's Sasabonsam, Madagascar's ramanga, the Aztec Cihuateteo, the chupacabra in the Americas, and the Manananggal from the Philippines. The vampire legend, which emerged in the 19th century, has roots in Slavic traditions documented by 18th-century ethnographers. Influential romantic authors like Robert Southey (Thalaba the Destroyer, 1801), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Christabel, 1816), and Lord Byron (The Giaour, 1813) enriched the lore. John Polidori's The Vampyre (1816) introduced the character Lord Ruthven. Other notable works include Varney the Vampire (1845-47), The Blood of the Vampire (1897), and Dracula (1897). Visual interpretations were created by artists such as Félicien Rops and Edvard Munch. F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922) encountered legal challenges yet thrived, inspiring many adaptations.
Key facts
- Slavic vampire folklore was recorded in writing by ethnographers in the 18th century
- John Polidori wrote The Vampyre at the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva in 1816
- Varney the Vampire (1845-47) was the first fictional vampire depicted with fangs
- Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla appeared in 1872; Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1897
- Baudelaire's The Metamorphoses of the Vampire was censored in France and republished in Les épaves in Belgium in 1866
- Edvard Munch's Love and Pain (1895) became widely known as Vampire
- Philip Burne-Jones painted The Vampire in 1897, inspiring a 1913 silent film
- Florence Stoker sued the makers of Nosferatu (1922); the court ordered copies destroyed but the film survived
Entities
Artists
- Bram Stoker
- Robert Southey
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Lord Byron
- John Polidori
- Mary Shelley
- Florence Marryat
- Mary Elizabeth Braddon
- Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
- Félicien Rops
- Charles Baudelaire
- Edvard Munch
- Edward Burne-Jones
- Philip Burne-Jones
- Henry Fuseli
- John Keats
- Rudyard Kipling
- Gustav Klimt
- Béla Lugosi
- Christopher Lee
- Gary Oldman
- Francis Ford Coppola
- F.W. Murnau
- James Malcolm Rymer
- Thomas Peckett
- David Henry Friston
- R. de Moraine
- Carl Mayer
- Thomas Phillips
- Vlad the Impaler
- Bela Lugosi
- Tony Scott
- Jess Franco
Institutions
- The Collector
- Munch Museum
- Österreichische Galerie Belvedere
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- Art UK
- Lady Lever Art Gallery
- British Library
- Universal Studios
- BFI
- Wikimedia Commons
- The Strand Magazine
- Berlin Archive for Art and History
- Government Art Collection, UK
- Cultura Colectiva
- Spooky Isles
- Pop Matters
- National Geographic
- British Library, London
- Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Wien
- Munch Museum, Oslo
- Lady Lever Art Gallery, Wirral, UK
Locations
- Bulgaria
- Romania
- Transylvania
- Portugal
- Belgium
- France
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Jamaica
- New Orleans
- New York
- Philippines
- Madagascar
- West Africa
- Lake Geneva
- Geneva
- Switzerland
- Oslo
- Norway
- Vienna
- Austria
- Wirral
- London
- England
- Aztec
- North America
- Central America
- South America
- Europe
- Villa Diodati
- Britain
- Wien
- Wirral, UK