Dimensions: 45 x 57 cm
gift, 1938
Inv. no. M.Ob.2704 MNW
Adoption period: 1 year
Biography
The theme of "The Temptation of St. Anthony" was very popular in Dutch art in the early 16th century, an era of religious unrest, but also the popularity of Hieronymus Bosch's works filled with fantastic visions of demonic figures. St. Anthony spent almost his entire life in the desert, devoted to prayer, fasting and vigilance, where he experienced numerous temptations from demons appearing before him. They appear in the painting, and the main character of the temptation is a beautiful woman in fashionable attire, riding on the back of a monster, with a golden vessel in her hands. She is the personification of one of the deadly sins - Luxuria or Uncleanness, with a symbolic goblet of lust, in a depiction similar to that of the Great Whore of Babylon from St. John's "Apocalypse." The town's fire visible from outside the church block in the background further intensifies the hermit's tribulations. In the midst of the attacks of infernal powers, however, he finds escape and help in the image of the Crucified Christ and in the Bible he holds in his hand.
John Wellens de Cock was one of the earliest imitators of Bosch's works. He painted the subject of "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" many times, always depicting his protagonist in a picturesque landscape, in which the motif of a bizarre old tree with dramatically twisted branches usually recurs.
