Vultus trifons

Celtic Triple Face (15th Century)

Towards the end of the trecento and beginnings of the quattrocento, some Tuscan artists began to represent the Holy Trinity in a new way, which -- as many other Christian elements -- had been taken from paganism: a head with three faces. They called it vultus trifons.

It was brought to Latin America, where it gained in popularity. The vultus trifons is rather common in Latin countries, and thus it is rare to find it in North European latitudes. But the Trent Concilium prohibited it since it referred to devil and demons, as in this older depiction of Dante's Inferno.

There is in the Renaissance a famous portrait of a man with three faces/heads by Grunewald.

The Triple Face (1525)

The motive has been since then represented by many other artists, who chose the "devil" characters, rather than the divine. All this vultus trifons might had arrived from India.

Pierre Pareja, Venetian Mask (2007)

Rosemary Griggs, Triple Face Jug (2008) | Sunset, Owl (2010)