The Temptation of Saint Anthony
Pieter Bruegel the Elder·c. 1550/1575
Historical Context
This Temptation of Saint Anthony, by a follower of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, dates to around 1550-1575 and depicts the desert father beset by demonic tormentors. The subject was popularized by Hieronymus Bosch and adopted by Bruegel, whose inventive demonic imagery inspired numerous followers. The painting reflects the sixteenth-century Netherlandish fascination with grotesque fantasy and moral allegory.
Technical Analysis
The oil on panel shows the Bruegelian approach to the subject with inventive, fantastical creatures and a detailed landscape setting. The precise technique and imaginative demonic forms follow the tradition established by Bosch and refined by Bruegel.
Provenance
Private collection, Brussels. (Robert Frank, London, by 1935);[1] on consigment from 1937 with (M. Knoedler & Co., New York; joint purchase 1945 with (Pinakos [Rudolf Heinemann);[2] purchased 1950 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 by exchange to NGA. [1] The corresponding entry in _Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles. Cinq Siècles d'Art_ (Brussels, 1935, no. 151, as Pieter Brueghel the Elder) states that before being acquired by Frank, the painting was in Brussels in the collection of an unnamed aristocrat. On the reverse are: an illegible stamp, possibly an Austrian customs stamp; a paper sticker, "Cinq Siècles d'Art (Bruxelles 1935)"; and a paper sticker, "Exposition De Van Eyck." [2] Knoedler commission book no. 3, p. 87, stock book no. 9, p. 96, and sales book no. 16, p. 251, no. A3127, M. Knoedler & Co. Records, Getty Research Institute copies NGA curatorial files). [3] Both The Baltimore Museum of Art, _An Exhibition of Paintings by Living Masters of the Past_, 1943, no. 9; and Colin Eisler, _Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian_, Oxford, 1977, p. 95; list Countess Montblanc, Belgium, as owner of the painting, but this is otherwise unverified. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2303.
