The Temptation of St. Anthony

About this artwork

This etching after Hieronymus Bosch by Jan and Lucas van Doetecum presents the fantastical imagery of the Netherlandish master to wider audiences through the medium of print. Published by Hieronymus Cock in 1561, the work depicts twenty-two scenes of temptation inspired by Bosch's hallucinatory visions of Saint Anthony's spiritual trials. Bosch (c.1450-1516) created unprecedented imagery combining religious symbolism, folkloric demons, and surreal hybrid creatures, making his paintings objects o...

Art Historical Context

Step into the surreal world of Hieronymus through this captivating etching, *The Temptation of St Anthony*, created by the brothers Jan and Lucas vanetecum after Bosch's visionary designs. Published in 156 by Antwerp printer Hieronymus Cock his famed "Aux Quatre Vents house, this print unfolds twenty-two vivid scenes of the saint's spiritual trials amid hallucinatory demons, hybrid creatures, and folkloric oddities—, boats, and tormented men swirl in Bosch's signature blend of religious symbolism and nightmarish invention. Bosch (c. 1450–1516), a Netherlandish master, pioneered this fantastica...

About the Artist

Hieronymus Bosch|Jan and Lucas van Doetecum · 1450–1516

Considered the most distinctive and idiosyncratic of 15th-century Netherlandish artists, he produced a body of work remarkable for its depiction of fantastic, often diabolic, creatures, generally moralizing representations of the consequences of sin and folly. He was the first European artist to give free rein to almost uncontrolled association, formal inventivity, and free choice of ideas. Commen...