Savage inspiration

What was once a mystery, was finally solved, thanks to Little Socks. For years, I'd been puzzled over the source of a vampire picture I had on my hard-drive. It turned out the picture was called Penangglan and painted by Chad Savage in 1994.

I contacted Mr. Savage¹ to get an insight into the creative process and the why behind his brilliant illustration. Here's what he had to say:

I was bitten by the Vampire Bug in 1987; by 1994, I had read many books about vampires, one of which was “The Book of Vampires” by Dudley Wright. After creating the painting in question, which featured a variety of historical and current interpretations of the concept of vampires (circa 1994), I was looking for a title, and Penanggalan (I may very well have started spelling it wrong over the years) jumped out at me while I was reading Mr. Wright’s book.

So there you go, mystery solved – I just thought it would make a cool title for a general image interpreting the concept of “VAMPIRE”.

I painted it for myself, and it was one of the first images I ever posted online. Bear in mind that, in 1994/95/96, the idea of image piracy didn’t exist – it never occurred to me (or many other artists at the time) that posting our work online was sending it out into the world to be endlessly ripped off. ;)²

Chad also included two links in his response. The first concerns his background with vampires and the second shows that Penangglan is far from his only illustration of the undead.

Bookshops.com.au

Regarding his inspiration—Dudley Wright's The book of vampires—as it happens, I own two copies: the first was published by Causeway Books, New York, in 1973 (left); the second by Dorset Press, New York, in 1987.

My copies, and Savage's, are retitled reprints: the original was published as Vampires and vampirism by William Rider and Sons, London, in 1914. A revised edition followed in 1924. The book has also been published under its original title, as the Tynron Press, Dumfriesshire, 1991 reprint attests; or embellished with a subtitle as per Lethe Press, Maple Shade, N.J.'s 2001 reprint, Vampires and vampirism: legends from around the world.

Despite Savage's hesitance on spelling, the 'Penangglan' variant is found in Wright's book, when he noted 'amongst the Malays a penangglan, or vampire, is a living witch, who can be killed if she can be caught in the act of witchery.'³ A Google Books search also turned up the same variant, even if their origin probably lies with Wright.

Spelling variants are common when it comes to transcribing vampire 'species'. Indeed, Theresa Bane notes several for the penangglan, itself: 'Pananggaln, Panangglan, Pênangal, Penanggalan, Pontianak'.⁴

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Chad for sharing his painting's story. Oh, and not suing me for posting his picture. Cheers.

---

1 A Hogg, 'Penangglan', Thursday, 22 September 2011 6:54:20 PM, <amateurvampirologist@hotmail.com>.^↩

2 C Savage, 'RE: Penangglan‏', Monday, 26 September 2011 6:15:34 PM, <savage@sinistervisions.com>.^↩

3 D Wright, The book of vampires, Causeway Books, New York, 1973, p. 4.^↩

4 T Bane, Encyclopedia of vampire mythology, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, N.C., 2010, p. 114.^↩

Picture mystery solved

Not only does Little Socks have the distinction of being the first person to post a comment to this blog, but she solved the vampire picture mystery: 'Well, instead of doing homework, I put this picture into Tin Eye and played detective for awhile. I can't say for sure, but someone named Chad Savage seems to be a likely candidate.'

If you haven't heard of TinEye, it 'is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions.'

The dark art of Chad Savage

She provided two links as evidence. The first link leads from Chad Savage's 'Vampire art' page's gallery index. I have screencapped and cropped the relevant portion, above. All the information is there, from the picture's title, 'Penangglan', to the medium in which it was painted, the year it was created, etc.

The second link takes us to Mystic crypt, where the image is is offered for sale as a postcard sticker. It is also called 'Fenangglan', rather than 'Penangglan', but Chad Savage is also credited as its creator. 

I find that 'Penangglan' is its most likely title, as the penangglan [sic] has a relevance to vampires that 'fenangglan' does not. The penanaggalan is 'a peculiar variation of the vampire myth that apparently began in the Malay Peninsula' and 'may be either a beautiful old or young woman who obtained her beauty through the active use of black magic, supernatural, mystical, or paranormal means which are most commonly described in local folklores to be dark or demonic in nature.'

To back up this supposition, not only does Savage list it as 'Penangglan', but he also describes its origins: 'One painting to say everything I had learned about vampires up to the point at which I painted it.' I must admit, I am curious as to why he chose that name for it, as the picture does not depict a penanggalan. I'm also wondering whether it was commissioned by anyone. Either way, it's a beautiful painting.

Diary of an amateur vampirologist

I guess I'll have to ask Chad. The funny thing is, there's already a tenuous link between Chad and myself: his blog, Sinister missives, featured on Diary of an amateur vampirologist's 'Reading list' (above). I had no idea it was his pic. Trippy.

Props goes to Little Socks for tracking down the picture's source. Well done!