User:Renaissance patron/The Temptation of St Anthony (Kansas City)
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (May 2023) |
| The Temptation of St Anthony | |
|---|---|
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| Year | c. 1500–1510 |
| Medium | Oil on oak panel |
| Dimensions | 38.6 cm × 29.5 cm (15.2 in × 11.6 in) |
| Location | Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City |
The Temptation of Saint Anthony is a fragment of an oil-on-oak, single-panel painting by the Early Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch, executed c. 1500–1510.[1] It is housed in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. This painting depicts Saint Anthony amidst some of Bosch's signature creatures.
Subject
[edit]Depicted in this painting is Saint Anthony filling a crock with water.[2] St. Anthony is revered as a hermit saint who explored the desert alone. During his wondering he was plagued by demons and inclinations toward sin, but resisted the temptations.[3] In this portrayal St. Anthony contrasts with the Temptation of St. Anthony (Lisbon), this piece depicts a more sorrowful St. Anthony tormented by lesser demons.[2]
Bosch painted many scenes of St. Anthony, the saint was his most recurring subject because of St. Anthony's connection to Bosch's own life.[2][4]
Visual Details
[edit]Across Bosch's work he reuses grotesque and obscure creatures as a motif representing demons. In this scene, St. Anthony is surrounded by these small grotesque demons in line with Bosch's typical style. Among these demons are a hooded fox-headed demon on the left side, a spoon-billed demon at a table on the right, and a fish fighting a funnel with human limbs along the bottom.[1]
Also prevalent in this piece is the presence of food, such at the roasted bird over the water and on the set table the spoon billed creature is seated at.
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The Crock - In this painting Bosch is featured filling a crock with water. This crock is also featured in the Hermit Saints Triptych being filled by St. Anthony in the same movement.[5] The crock is also noticeably being emptied by on of the demons tormenting Bosch in the Temptation of St. Anthony in Madrid.[2]
The Funnel - Across Bosch’s works the funnel serves as symbolism for the devil because the funnel demonstrates the overindulgence of pouring a lot in and having it immediately fall out.[6] The creature with the funnel for a body featured in this painting is an example of this symbolism.[1]
The Fish- In Bosch's work the fish symbolizes folly, being associated with the Flemish April Fool's day and other forms of unrestrained merrymaking.[6]
The Fox-Headed Creature - Is featured across several of Bosch's depictions of the temptation of St. Anthony as one of the demons causing mischief for the saint.[5] The similarity between these figures is seen through their shared hoods and white spots.[1]
Hooded Creatures- Both the fox-headed creature and the spoon billed creature wear hoods. This is a feature in Bosch's work that denotes the demonic nature of these creatures by calling on a Flemish proverb.[6] This also connects to Bosch's humorous sensibilities because the hood is satirizing the hoods worn by monks.[6]
Trotter - This goat hoof which lays in front of the spoon billed creature on the table uses the symbology from his other works. This hoof is a stand in for a full goat which in Bosch's work and across Flemish Renaissance art represents merrymakers and inappropriate sexuality.[6] This is demonstrated in other paintings depicting the temptation of St. Anthony where she-goats are taunt St. Anthony as women ride them.[6]
The Roasted Bird on the Spit - The roasted bird takes on two potential meanings in regard to symbolism in this painting. The first is as a symbol of gluttony and the second is alluding to sexual acts.[6]
Attribution
[edit]
There was a dispute as to whether this work was a Bosch autograph or a piece by the workshop until the Bosch Research and Conservation Project concluded it to be autograph based on evidence presented by the underdrawing and a dendrochronlogical exam.[1] The year provided from the dendrochronological analysis supplied that the latest year the wood could be sourced from is 1482, indicating the painting was created in the early 1500s.[1] The retouching of the piece made it so the work of the artist could only be identified after professionals analyzed the underdrawing revealed by infrared photography.[5] It was exhibited in 2016 as part of the Jheronimus Bosch—Visions of Genius exhibition.[7]
While trying to determine the true artist of this piece researchers analyzed each aspect of the painting and how these aspect aligned with Bosch's style, eventually determining the piece corresponds with works from Bosch's later life.[1] One critical comparison was the left panel of the Hermit Saints Triptych, the research team used the similarities between these figures positions and their action of filing the crock with water as evidence the Kansas City piece was painted by Bosch.[5]
One of the key arguments against this painting being a work of Bosch was the lack of the devil disguised as a temptress[2] that is seen in other version of Bosch's Temptation of Saint Anthony, after the analysis the Devil as temptress was determined to be a lost part of the piece.[1] The painting was determined to be a fragment based on the shape, size, and composition of the panel because of this researchers determined this would have belonged to a scene more similar to the other St. Anthony paintings done by Bosch by being filled with more demons.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h Maroto, Pilar Silva (2017). Bosch: The 5th Centenary Exhibition. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson Inc. p. 248. ISBN 9780500970799.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ a b c d e Schwartz, Gary (2016). Jheronimus Bosch: The Road to Heaven and Hell. New York, NY: Overlook Duckworth. pp. 140–147. ISBN 9781468313734.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Gisbon, Walter S. (1973). Hieronymus Bosch. New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc. p. 146. ISBN 9780195199451.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Falk, Kurt (2008). The Unknown Hieronymus Bosch. Benson, North Carolina: Goldstone Press. p. 91. ISBN 9781556437595.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ a b c d e Koldeweiji, A. M. (2016). Hieronymus Bosch: Visions of Genius. Brussels: Mercatorfonds. pp. 150–151. ISBN 9780300220131.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ a b c d e f g Bax, D. (1979). Hieronymus Bosch: his picture-writing deciphered. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema. pp. 182–218.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ "Authentication of Hieronymus Bosch Panel at Nelson-Atkins Called Significant". February 2016.