The Temptation Of Saint Anthony

With MonsterBrains reaching its one year anniversary next week and having hit 500 posts yesterday, I decided to make a giant post about artwork that completely defines the kind of art this blog is all about, a celebration of monsters and the fantastic!

And so in honor of the saint who has inspired some of the most fantastic and monster infested artwork in history, here is a large collection of paintings, prints and drawings based on "The Temptation Of Saint Anthony". I was going to post this a few days ago but thought it would be more fitting today as January 17th is noted as Saint Anthony's feast day.

The story behind all this artwork having Saint Anthony being surrounded by insane looking monsters can best be described in the following quote from wikipedia...

"According to Athanasius, the devil fought St Anthony by afflicting him with boredom, laziness, and the phantoms of women, which he overcame by the power of prayer, providing a theme for Christian art. After that, he moved to a tomb, where he resided and closed the door on himself, depending on some local villagers who brought him food. When the devil perceived his ascetic life and his intense worship, he was envious and beat him mercilessly, leaving him unconscious. When his friends from the local village came to visit him and found him in this condition, they carried him to a church.

After he recovered, he made a second effort and went back to the desert, further out, to a mountain by the Nile, called Pispir, now Der el Memun, opposite Arsinoë in the Fayyum. Here he lived strictly enclosed in an old abandoned Roman fort for some twenty years. According to Athanasius, the devil again resumed his war against Saint Anthony, only this time the phantoms were in the form of wild beasts, wolves, lions, snakes and scorpions. They appeared as if they were about to attack him or cut him into pieces. But the Saint would laugh at them scornfully and say, "If any of you have any authority over me, only one would have been sufficient to fight me." At his saying this, they disappeared as though in smoke, and God gave him the victory over the devil. While in the fort he only communicated with the outside world by a crevice through which food would be passed and he would say a few words. Saint Anthony would prepare a quantity of bread that would sustain him for six months. He did not allow anyone to enter his cell: whoever came to him, stood outside and listened to his advice.

Then one day he emerged from the fort with the help of villagers to break down the door. By this time most had expected him to have wasted away, or gone insane in his solitary confinement, but he emerged healthy, serene, and enlightened. Everyone was amazed he had been through these trials and emerged spiritually rejuvenated. He was hailed as a hero and from this time forth the legend of Anthony began to spread and grow."

It is likely that Saint Anthony did manage to see monsters from Hell due to hallucinations from starvation and isolation. So in some strange way these paintings are all based on a bizarre psychedelic truth.

Lieven van Lathem - The Temptation Of Saint Anthony - tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint, silver paint, and ink on parchment leaf - 1469

Martin Schongauer - Engraving - 1480-90

Giovanni Pietro da Birago - St Anthony Abbot battling with demons - Tempera colors, gold leaf, and gold paint on parchment - 1490

Bernardino Parenzano - Temptations of St Anthony - 1494

Hieronymus Bosch - Temptation of St Anthony - Centeral Panel - oil on panel - 1500
Flight and Failure of St. Anthony - Left wing - oil on panel - 1500
St. Anthony at Meditation - Right wing - oil on panel - 1500
Temptation of St Anthony drawing - pen and bistre on paper
Temptation of St Anthony sketches
Another St Anthony painting by Bosch..
And one more painting of St Anthony by Bosch..
This painting of St Anthony from 1490-1500 is attributed to Bosch. Since it isn't officially considered Bosch's work it's likely this was made by another artist who either copied a lost Bosch painting or drawing or was just directly inspired by his imagery.

Lucas Cranach The Elder - Temptation of St Anthony - woodcut - 1506
See details of this print here..

Lucas van Leyden - Temptation of Saint Anthony - oil - 1509

Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo - Temptation of St Anthony - - oil on panel - 1515-20
If you know of a larger version online of this painting please let me know!

Mathis Gothart Grünewald - Temptation of Saint Anthony - 1512-16
Larger version here - detail view with a more color correct example of this painting

Niklaus Manuel - Temptation of St Anthony - 1520
- many thanks to Paul Rumsey for this suggestion!


Jan Wellens de Cock - The Temptation of Saint Anthony - oil on panel - 1526
Click here to see a detailed view of the above painting.
Click here to see a slightly different version of the above painting, anyone know where a larger example is?
Click here to see an ink drawing with the Saint Anthony theme.
Another Temptation of Saint Anthony painting by de Cock...
Woodcut of "Temptation of Saint Anthony" from 1522

Cranach d. A. Lucas - Temptation of St Anthony - 1520-25

Jan Mandyn - The Temptation of Saint Anthony - painted after 1530
Here's a small sample of another Saint Anthony painting by Mandyn, anyone know where a larger version is?

Artist Unknown - Temptation of St Anthony - 1532

Herri met de Bles - Temptation of St Anthony - oil on oak panel - 1540-50
Another example of a St Anthony painting by de Bles

Pieter Huys - Temptation of St Anthony - oil on panel - 1547

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Landscape with Temptation of St Anthony - oil on wood - 1555 - 58
A slightly larger copy of this painting can be found here.
View details of the above painting here.
I've seen this painting labeled as being created by a follower of Bruegel as well as by his own hand, I'm not sure which is true.
Another painting of St Anthony attributed to Bruegel the Elder..
And a print after The Temptation of St Anthony by Bruegel..

Marten de Vos - The Temptation of St Antony - oil on wood - 1591-94

Jan Brueghel The Elder (Son of Pieter Brueghel) - Temptation of St Anthony - 1603-04

School of Jan Breughel the Elder - Temptation of St. Anthony - oil on canvas

Frederick Valckenborch - The Temptation of Saint Anthony - oil on wood - 1618-21

Thomas van Apshoven - Temptation of St Anthony - oil on panel - 1622

Salvatore Rosa - Tentazioni di San Antonio





















Jacques Callot - "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" - Engraving and etching on paper - 1634
I had the priviledge several years ago of holding an original print of this in my hands with the face of the print entirely uncovered so I had a great chance to study this in great detail.
Detail of upper left - Detail of upper right - Detail of lower left - Detail of lower right
Here is an earlier version of "The Temptation of St. Anthony" by Callot dating back to 1617. Unfortunately this is the largest version I've been able to find online. If anyone knows where I can find a larger example of this print, please let me know.

Abraham Blooteling - Temptation of St. Anthony - mezzotint - 17th century

Cornelis Saftleven - Temptation Of St Anthony - oil on panel - painted between 1607 and 1681

David Teniers The Younger - The Temptation of Saint Antoine - oil paint on wood
Another oil painting of "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" made after 1640..
And another oil painting made of "Temptation of Saint Anthony"..
Another Teniers painting of Saint Anthony with similiar looking creatures.
Yet another painting by Teniers of this subject..
One more... you can see this is very similar to this painting of Saint Anthony.
Check out this amazing lithograph of the Temptation of Saint Anthony.
Click here to see details of the above lithograph..
I couldn't link these 3 paintings up to Teniers but I think they're made by him as well 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Ricci Sebastiano - Antonio Francesco - oil on canvas - 1706-07

Felicien Rops - La Tentation de St-Antoine - watercolour preparation, non-fixed pastels and gouache - 1878

Odilon Redon - Tentations de Sainte-Antoine - lithograph - 1889
Additional Redon lithographs made in the Saint Anthony series - 1 - 2 - 3

Jose Guadalupe Posada - Las Tentaciones De San Antonio - relief etching on zinc - 1910
Click here to see a zoom feature version..


Max Ernst - Temptation of Saint Anthony - oil on canvas - 1945

Salvador Dali - The Temptation of St Anthony - oil on canvas - 1946
A statue of the horse from Dali's painting of The Temptation Of St Anthony.

Leonora Carrington - Oil painting on fabric - 1947
A picture of Carrington while still working on the above painting.

Vojen Wilhelm Cech Colini - "Temptation Of Saint Anthony 3" egg tempera on masonite panel - 1959

Béla Kondor - Szt. Antal megkísértése - 1966

This painting of The Temptation of Saint Anthony is credited to Hieronymus Bosch but I don't think this is his work, can anyone say who did paint this?

And here's a few more paintings and drawings and I think an illuminated manuscript with the theme of Saint Anthony's Temptation. I lost the name of the artists and dates, if anyone can help me figure that out I'd appreciate it.
1 - 2 - 3 - 4

The great blog "Giornale Nuovo" has an article on the paintings devoted to the theme of Saint Anthony's temptations here.

Frans Francken the Younger (1581 - 1642)

The Penitent Mary Magdalene visited by the Seven Deadly Sins, 1607-10

The Witches' Sabbath, 1607

Witch Assembly

Witches' Kitchen

The Witches' Sabbath, 1610

Witch's Sabbath, 1606

Witches' Kitchen, 1606

Witches' Kitchen, 17th C

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1605

Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1610-15

Pieter Huys (1519 - 1584)

Inferno, 1570

The Last Judgement, 1555-60

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1577

Attributed to Pieter Huys - The Temptation of Saint Anthony

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1547

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Circa 1520 - 1584

Attributed to Pieter Huys - The Descent into Limbo , 16th Century

Pieter Huys or Follower of Huys - Saint Christopher Carrying the Christ Child through a Sinful World, 1550-1600

Pieter Huys or Jan Mandijn - The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 16th Century

Attributed to Pieter Huys - Saint Christopher, 1584

Circle of Pieter Huys - The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 16th Century

Attributed to Jan Mandijn or Pieter Huys - The Mocking of Job, 1550

Image sources include - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sothebys and Wikipedia

Jan Brueghel the Elder

Jan Brueghel The Elder - Christ in Limbo, 1594

Jan Brueghel The Elder - Christ in Limbo, 1593

Jan Brueghel The Elder - Orpheus Sings for Pluto and Proserpina, 1594

Jan Brueghel The Elder and Hans Rottenhammer - Christ in Limbo, 1597

Jan Brueghel The Elder - Aeneas and Sibyl in the Underworld, 1594

Jan Brueghel The Elder - Aeneas and Sibyl in the Underworld, 1600

Jan Brueghel The Elder - Aeneas and Sibyl in the Underworld, 1601

Jan Brueghel The Elder - Aeneas and the Sibyl in the Underworld, 1598

Jan Brueghel the Younger - Aeneas and the Sibyl in the Underworld, 1630's

Jan Brueghel The Elder - The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1594

Jan Brueghel The Elder - The Temptation of Saint Anthony

Jan Brueghel The Elder - The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1594

Jan Brueghel The Elder - The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1594 (detail)

Jan Brueghel the Younger - The Temptation of Saint Anthony, after 1626

Detail views of The Temptation of Saint Anthony found thanks to Karl Steel.

Circle of Jan Brueghel the Younger/Elder (16th-17th Century)

Follower of Jan Brueghel the Younger - The Temptation of Saint Anthony 

Circle of Jan Breughel the Younger - The Underworld 

Circle of Jan Breughel the Younger - The Descent into Hell, 1601-78 

Follower of Jan Brueghel the Younger - The Temptation of Saint Anthony 

Follower of Jan Breughel - The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 17th C

Follower of Jan Brueghel the Elder - The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 16th-17th C 

Follower of Jan Brueghel the Elder - The Temptation of Saint Anthony 

Follower of Jan Brueghel the Elder - Juno's Arrival in Hades, circa 1598

 Image sources include Sotheby's. 

Jan Brueghel the Elder's paintings were previously shared here.

James Ensor (1860 - 1949)

Cover art for Peintre and Graveur, 1899

Demons Teasing Me,  Poster for the James Ensor Exhibition at the Salon des Cent in Paris , 1898

Demons Teasing Me, 1898

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1887

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, detail 1, 1887

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, detail 2, 1887

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, detail 3, 1887

Devils Trashing Angels and Archangels, 1888

The Devils Dzitts and Hihanox Leading Christ to Hell, 1895

Petit Persian Turtures, 1896

The Entry of Christ into Brussels, State 3, 1898

Christ in Hell

Christ Descending Into Hell, 1895

The Strike (Massacre of the Ostend Fisherman) 1888

Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889, 1889/90

Death Chasing the Flock of Mortals, 1896

Hop-Frog's Revenge, colored print, 1898

Hop-Frog's Revenge, 1896

The Love Line, 1924

Monstres Entrelacés Décousus, Entrelardés, 1938

Demons Teasing Me, colored, 1895

Demons Teasing Me, original drawing, 1895

King Pest, 1895

King Pest, original drawing, 1895

Fight of the Dodwn-and-Outs, 1887

Queen Parysatis, 1899

The Ghosts, 1889

Anger (La Colère) from The Deadly Sins (Les Péchés capitaux) colored, 1904

Avarice (L'Avarice) from The Deadly Sins (Les Péchés capitaux) colored, 1904

Sloth (La Paresse) from The Deadly Sins (Les Péchés capitaux) colored, 1902

Gluttony (La Gourmandise) from The Deadly Sins (Les Péchés capitaux) colored, 1904

Lust (La Luxure) from The Deadly Sins (Les Péchés capitaux) colored, 1888

Pride (L'Orgeuil) from The Deadly Sins (Les Péchés capitaux) colored, 1904

Envy (L'Envie) from The Deadly Sins (Les Péchés capitaux) 1904

The Deadly Sins Dominated by Death, 1904

The Deadly Sins dominated by Death, from "The Seven Deadly Sins," colored version 1, 1904

The Deadly Sins dominated by Death, from "The Seven Deadly Sins," colored version 2, 1904

My Aunt Asleep and Dreaming of Monsters, 1888

The Fight of the Down-and-Outs Desir and Rissole, State 2, 1888

The Bad Doctors, 1892

The Bad Doctors, colored, 1895

The Assassination, 1890

Good Judges, 1891

The Good Judges, 1894

The Baths at Ostende, 1889

Red and White Clowns Evolving, 1890

Battle of the Golden Spurs, 1895

Doctrinal Nourishment, 1889

The Gendarmes, 1888

Intrigued Masks, 1930

Perplexed Masks, 1904

Ensor Surrounded By Masks, 1899

The Intrigue, 1890

Masks Confronting Death 1888

Scandalized Masks, 1883

Singular Masks, 1892

Skeletons Fighting For The Body Of A Hanged Man, 1891

Terrible Musicians, 1891

Astonishment of the Mask Wouse, 1889

Pierrot and Skeleton in Yellow Robe, 1893

The Despair of Pierrot, 1892

Comical Repast (Banquet of the Starved) 1917-18

Baptism of Masks, 1925-30

The Skeleton Painter, 1896

Fantastic Ballet, 1918

The Shop Of Grognelet Decoration For The Ballet Range Of Love, 1912

At The Conservatory With The Academy, 1902

The War of Snails, 1911

The Fight of the Angels and the Demons, 1888

Tribulations of Saint Anthony, 1909

The Tribulations of Saint Anthony, 1887

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1932

The Infernal Cortege, 1887

Wizards in a Squall, 1888

Carnival Scene, 1913

Composition With Figures, 1946

Scenes from the Life of Christ, 1921

Diables turlupinant un religieux, 1940

The Assassination 1888

Burlesque False Noses

"James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for almost his entire life. He was associated with the artistic group Les XX.

 Ensor's father, James Frederic Ensor, born in Brussels of English parents, was a cultivated man who studied engineering in England and Germany. Ensor's mother, Maria Catherina Haegheman, was Belgian. Ensor himself lacked interest in academic study and left school at the age of fifteen to begin his artistic training with two local painters. From 1877 to 1880, he attended the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, where one of his fellow students was Fernand Khnopff. Ensor first exhibited his work in 1881. From 1880 until 1917, he had his studio in the attic of his parents' house. His travels were very few: three brief trips to France and two to the Netherlands in the 1880s, and a four-day trip to London in 1892.

During the late 19th century much of his work was rejected as scandalous, particularly his painting Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889 (1888–89), but his paintings continued to be exhibited, and he gradually won acceptance and acclaim. In 1895 his painting The Lamp Boy (1880) was acquired by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, and he had his first solo exhibition in Brussels. By 1920 he was the subject of major exhibitions; in 1929 he was named a Baron by King Albert, and was the subject of the Belgian composer Flor Alpaerts's James Ensor Suite; and in 1933 he was awarded the band of the Légion d'honneur. Even in the first decade of the 20th century, however, his production of new works was diminishing, and he increasingly concentrated on music—although he had no musical training, he was a gifted improviser on the harmonium, and spent much time performing for visitors. Against the advice of friends, he remained in Ostend during World War II despite the risk of bombardment. In his old age he was an honored figure among Belgians, and his daily walk made him a familiar sight in Ostend. He died there after a short illness, on 19 November 1949."  - quote source

A detailed examination along with videos showing the restoration process of James Ensor's "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" can be viewed in this online catalogue at the Art Institute of Chicago. 

You'll find a book published in 1922 of Ensor's art at Archive.org.

James Ensor, peintre & graveur, published 1899

Les écrits de James Ensor, 1921

Artworks found at the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, my own personal scans from various books and additional sources that have been lost to me over the years.