The Temptation of Saint Anthony
Medium
Brush with brown and red watercolor over black chalk, touched with gouache on brown paper
Dimensions
8-15/16 x 13-1/2 in. (22.7 x 34.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880
Accession Number
80.3.434
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *The Temptation of Saint*, a mesmerizing 17th-century drawing an anonymous artist from the Roman-Bolog school, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Drawings and Prints. work captures the iconic Christian saint besieged by grotesque demons, a timeless theme drawn from the life of Anthony the Great, the early Desert Father who endured supernatural trials as a model of faith and resilience. Gifted to the Met in 1880 by Cornelius Vanderbilt, it reflects the era's fascination with spiritual drama amid the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Crafted on brown paper with blac...