study for La Temptation de Saint Antoine (The Temptation of St. Anthony), Eugène Isabey

Artwork Overview

Eugène Isabey, study for La Temptation de Saint Antoine (The Temptation of St. Anthony)
Eugène Isabey, study for La Temptation de Saint Antoine (The Temptation of St. Anthony)
Eugène Isabey
study for La Temptation de Saint Antoine (The Temptation of St. Anthony)
1868–1869
Eugène Isabey
1803–1886
study for La Temptation de Saint Antoine (The Temptation of St. Anthony), 1868–1869
Where object was made: France
Material/technique: oil; canvas
Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 81 x 118 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 32 x 46 1/2 in
Credit line: Museum purchase
Accession number: 1980.0005
Not on display
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Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label: "Corpus," Apr-2012, Susan Earle According to legend, St. Anthony was grievously tormented by demons who tempted him with worldly delights, rich clothing, and beautiful women. Unsuccessful, they then assumed the hideous shapes of monsters, serpents, and various poisonous animals. Isabey’s painting shows the demonic figures entangled with the sensual women and together they attempt to seduce and overpower the saint. Saint Anthony is represented in his monk’s habit (as the founder of monasticism) and is accompanied by a pig, a symbol of the sensuality and gluttony he overcame. This is probably a first sketch of a long series of studies before the artist opted to use a vertical format for the finished picture. The final version of The Temptation of St. Anthony was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1869 and is considered one of Isabey’s major works. Archive Label 2003: According to legend, St. Anthony was grievously tormented by demons who tempted him with worldly delights, rich clothing, and beautiful women. Unsuccessful, they then assumed the hideous shapes of monsters, serpents, and various poisonous animals. Isabey’s painting shows the demonic figures entangled with the sensual women and together they attempt to seduce and overpower the saint. St. Anthony slumbers while a group of celestial beings descends from Heaven and hover over him. His angelic guardians confront the ensnarement of demons and voluptuous nudes and protect the saint from his tempters. St. Anthony is represented in his monk’s habit (as the founder of monasticism) and is accompanied by a pig, a symbol of the sensuality and gluttony he overcame. This is probably a first sketch of a long series of studies before the artist opted to use a vertical format for the finished picture. The final version of The Temptation of St. Anthony was entered in the Paris Salon of 1869 and is considered one of Isabey’s major works.

Resources

Audio

Didactic – Art Minute
Didactic – Art Minute
Episode 78. I’m David Cateforis with another art minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. A nineteenth-century painting in the Spencer collection represents the “Temptation of Saint Anthony.” One of the founders of Christian monasticism, Saint Anthony lived as a hermit in the Egyptian desert. According to legend, the devil tormented him through erotic visions of women and with phantoms of wild beasts. The Spencer painting shows demonic serpents entangled with sensuous nude women who attempt to seduce Saint Anthony. However, he lies unresponsive on the ground, while angelic guardians descend from Heaven to protect him. This fantastic scene is the work of Eugene Isabey, a French artist associated with the Romantic Movement. Romantic painters often sought intense emotional expression through stirring subject matter, fluent brushwork, and rich colors. All of those elements are present in this Isabey canvas, although it dates to 1868 - long after the heyday of Romanticism. This horizontal painting served as a study for Isabey’s much larger, vertical version of the “Temptation of Saint Anthony,” which was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1869 and which hangs today in the Musee d’Orsay. From the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.