Master Paintings Part II

Master Paintings Part II

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 430. Temptation of Saint Anthony.

Antwerp School, 17th century

Temptation of Saint Anthony

Auction Closed

February 6, 08:57 PM GMT

Estimate

40,000 - 60,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Antwerp School, 17th century

Temptation of Saint Anthony


oil on panel, the reverse branded with the Antwerp panel maker's mark of the six-pointed star (act. 1619-1650)

panel: 14 by 20 ¼ in.; 35.5 by 51.4 cm

framed: 20 ½ by 26 ¼ in.; 51.4 by 66.6 cm

Anonymous sale, Vienna, Dorotheum, 5 December 1961, lot 27 (as Hieronymous Wellens Cock);

Anonymous sale, Zurich, Koller, 22 September 2023, lot 3015 (as Antwerp School, circa 1600);

Where acquired by the present owner.

Paintings such as this, in which the spiritual sufferings of the ascetic hermit Saint Anthony could be depicted in the most vivid pictorial terms, were enormously popular in the Southern Netherlands from the late-fifteenth century onwards. The subject afforded artists creative liberties to depict various fantastical elements while illustrating the power of faith and prayer. In this hallucinatory scene, Saint Anthony withstands temptation and serves as a didactic example for Christians to emulate.


In a fantastic rocky landscape teeming with infernal monsters and chimeric creatures, Saint Anthony kneels in prayer before a crucifix in the foreground. Ghouls lurk in the shadowy entrance to the ruinous castle-like structure behind him, while a sorceress and a beggar approach from the left. Led by a hunching figure concealed beneath a cloak, a horde of demons advance towards him from the right. In the mirage-like landscape at left, a second version of the Saint converses with fellow hermit Saint Paul, and in the skies above, another version of him appears to be abducted by winged demons. 


This painting’s composition derives inspiration from a woodcut dated 1522, attributed to Jan Wellens de Cock.1 Executed roughly a century after its graphic source, the present painting was likely produced in Antwerp during the first half of the seventeenth century. The panel’s verso is branded with a six-pointed star, the personal mark used by a still-unidentified Antwerp panel maker who was active between 1619 and 1650.


1 For one example, see Art Institute of Chicago, inv. no. 1927.2329; Marc Rudolf de Vrij has proposed an alternative attribution for the woodcut to the Master of the Vienna Lamentation (in M. R. de Vrij, Jan Wellens de Cock, Antwerp Mannerist Associate, Amsterdam 2009, pp. 171-172, cat. no. 19)