Flemish School

This painted panel is based on an engraving by Martin Schongauer of the Temptations of St. Anthony dated c.1470–3. The scene, from the Life of St. Anthony written by St. Athanasius in the 4th century, shows the saint levitating in the sky, attacked by nine repugnantly hybrid demons. The devilish imagination typical of northern European culture is expressed in full here, in a catalogue of monstrous aberrations inspired by the animal kingdom, with a repulsive repertoire of tusks, horns, claws, suckers, beaks, trunks, rostrate wings, scales and scaly skin all rendered with a bristly, vibrant touch. The demons attack the saintly hermit by resorting to various kinds of physical violence, clawing at him, tugging at his clothing and threatening him with sticks. He remains patient and untroubled, his books solidly attached to his belt.

 In addition to its own intrinsic artistic value, the panel is of particular importance in that it reflects a widespread practice in Renaissance workshops – especially, though not only, when training young apprentices – which involved copying and revisiting engravings or paintings, including work of a different origin or context from that of the workshop itself. In this instance the panel’s interest is further increased by the fact that the selfsame model was assigned to the young Michelangelo Buonarroti as an exercise while he was learning to paint in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio in 1487–9. This very panel has even been attributed to Michelangelo in the past.

The support and the handling of colour, however, both point to the artist having learned his trade in northern Europe, presumably in Flanders, but having then travelled to Rome with his knowledge and experience, bent on mastering Italian art – not just the classic quality of its forms but also the dazzling opulence of its colours.