The Guardian Painting that depicts Buddhist spirit generals who guard the dharma is an indispensable subject enshrined in every Buddhist sanctum including the Hall of Sakyamuni. It was most popular among the general mass during the latter half of the Chos?n dynasty. Buddhist spirit generals are folk deities worshiped in India prior to the emergence of Buddhism and later embraced in the Buddhist faith as guardians of Buddhism. In the hierarchy of the Buddhist pantheon, the spirit generals rank below the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, but they belong to the class of devas, the highest of the six gatis in the cycles of transmigrations. In other words, they lie midway between the Buddha/Bodhisattvas and human beings. The most important ones are lndra, Brahm?, ?iva, Skanda, Four Guardian Kings, Eight Guardian Spirits. Sixteen Yaksas. The belief in these spirit generals, however, was transformed in the way suitable to the spiritual soil of Korea. In the Chos?n dynasty, they merged with indigenous deities such as the Mountain God and the Kitchen God.*br* Seven scrolls of the altar paintings that depict the Guardians of the Buddhist Law are extant from the first half of the Chos?n dynasty. During its second half-mainly from the 18th through the first half of the 20th century-a large number of such scrolls were produced, and more than 250 pieces are extant to date. This thesis deals mainly with the scrolls of this period.*br* The scrolls of the Guardian paintings of the 18th century fall into two groups: 1) those with Indra as the central deity and 2) those with Skanda surrounded by devas and dragons. Especially in the former Indra was identified with an celestial deity of indigenous belief. Skanda is a native Indian god. but in the post-Kory? period in Korea he was worshiped as a deva guarding scriptures. With the wide distribution of wooden engravings during the latter half of the Chos?n dynasty, Skanda seems to have taken up the position of the central deity in the deva/dragon altar paintings.*br* In the latter half of the 18th century these two groups were marged, giving birth to a composition with Indra and deva/dragon, which stayed as the most common type throughout the later period. It was given a new designation Sinjung t'aenghwa 神衆幀畵. "Paintings of the multitude of deities." New deities were added to the composition such as the native mountain god and kitchen god, Ucchusma (of esoteric Buddhism), eight vajra bearers, and four Bodhisattvas from the Diamond Sutra. This reflects various forms of the Buddhist faith in this period. By including a number of such popular deities widely worshiped by the large mass, the paintings of this theme became the most indigenous type in Korean Buddhist paintings. Those deities met the demand of the popular faith engendered by the social changes. Thus they are important for the understanding of the religious trend of the latter half of the Chos?n period.