BO Bosch 4C.qxp
12/8/2011
3:25 PM
Page 103
Saint Anthony and the Devil
F
ränger’s idea that Bosch’s three large triptychs contain satire directed both against the Church and paganism led him to see somewhat different emphases in the paintings. Whereas the Earthly Delights stands somewhat between the polar extremities, Fränger presumed The Hay Wagon to be primarily anti-clerical and The Temptation of Saint Anthony to be “anti-occultist” satire. However, it is more likely in the latter painting that the occult would be a part of the main theme – that of the traditional conflict between Good and Evil – but presented according to late medieval ideography. Good is represented by the saint, Christ, and the monks who perform acts of mercy toward the saint. Evil abounds through the demonic creatures that swarm over the panels – these representing the minions of a kingdom of Satan, the concept that objectified evil to the medieval mind. Satan and his demons were thought to operate on this earth through heretical activity, of which occult practices were believed to be a large part. This would explain why Bosch made allusions to pagan practices in this painting. When we examine the imagery against a knowledge of such activity, it is apparent that the artist did not pinpoint any specific idea or practice. There is not one symbol that could be said to come entirely from any single source. It is obvious therefore, that Bosch incorporated ideas from numerous sources in his imagery. The composite mechanisms that he developed are not complete within themselves. I believe that they make rational sense only when related to the main theme of the painting. If not convinced that Bosch created his scene of hallucinatory effects and hideous demons with responsible use of his faculties, we should take into account the world of ideas, universally held in his time, upon which he could draw. As Heinrich Wölfflin observed, the art of the past “must not be interpreted as if it had been created today. Instead of asking ‘How do these works affect me, the modern man?’ and estimating their expressional content by that standard, the historian must realize what choice of formal [and ideational] possibilities the epoch had at its disposal. An essentially different interpretation will then result”. Before considering how our artist might have formed the images of this St Anthony painting, let us review the sources of possible elements that he fused to form his imagery.
Saint Anthony The first source is that of the painting’s subject, Saint Anthony’s temptation by the Devil, seems to have been a favourite of the artist, since he devoted more works – drawings as well as paintings – to this theme than to any other, almost as if he felt a personal empathy towards the visionary saint.
The Garden of Earthly Delights (detail, right panel: Hell), c. 1500-1505. Oil on panel, 220 x 389 cm (triptych). Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
103
