Bosch: Diabolic Enterprises

Hieronymus Bosch - Triptych of Temptation of St Anthony - 1505-06 - Oil on panel, 131,5 x 119 cm (central), 131,5 x 53 cm (each wing) - Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon (click photo for larger image)The Temptation of Saint Anthony is one of the masterpieces of Early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) ( http://www.hieronymus-bosch.org ). The diabolic enterprises represented in the triptych reach a climax in the central panel. Devils of all species, human and grotesque, arrive from all directions by land, water and air, to converge upon a ruined tomb in the center. On a platform before the tomb, an elegantly dressed pair have set up a table from which they dispense drink to their companions. Nearby, a woman wearing a large headdress and a gown with an extravagantly long train kneels at a parapet to offer a bowl to a figure opposite. Kneeling beside her, almost unnoticed, in the middle of this hellish activity, is Saint Anthony himself. He turns towards the viewer, his right hand raised in blessing. His gesture is echoed by Christ half-hidden in the depths of the tomb, which Anthony has converted into a chapel.