Description
This armored fish moves in the water like a boat in front of the main scene: the celebration of black mass. In the Temptation of Saint Anthony, fish appear in all shapes and sizes. This one still swims, but his fellow sort can be found on dry land or even in the air. Up there they serve as cold-blooded means of conveyance for, what could be witches. Now we would suspect a broomstick here.
ABOUT THE ARTWORK: THE TEMPATION OF SAINT ANTHONY Saint Anthony won a lot of praise in Hieronymus Bosch’s heyday. He resisted diabolical temptations, in sharp contrast with the ordinary mortals, as this triptych portrays in splendid colors. The closed panels show the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus.
ABOUT THE ART PERIOD: Froman artistic point of view, the world famous brilliant forerunner of surrealism was, in his day, unique and radically different. Hieronymus(Jeroen for schort) Bosch was born (ca. 1450-1516) during the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance in s-Hertogenbosch, in the Duchy of Brabant. Bosch places visionary images in a hostile world full of mysticism, with the conviction that the human being, dueto its own stupidity and sinfulness has become prey to the devil himself. He holds a mirror to the world with his cerebral irony and magical symbolism, sparing no one. He aims his mocking arrows equally well at the hypocrisy of the clergy as the extravagance of the nobility and the immorality of the people. Hieronymus Boschs style arises from the tradition of the book illuminations (manuscript illustrations from the Middle Ages). The caricature representation of evil tones down its terrifying implications, but also serves as a defiant warning with a theological basis.
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