Temptation of St. Anthony an Essay

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A devil with wings outstretched stands ready to catch the viewer in its teeth, and if one is not careful his eyes are directed upward to the circling demons who parade in the air on their beasts, creating an uproar and ruckus. (These demons are of a unique variety as well -- like witches they reverse the order of nature and these beasts fly on fish, disrupting the senses, but in a weirdly humorous and fascinating way. Teniers' depiction of temptations achieves exactly what temptations set out to do -- distract.)

Line and Texture

The manner in which these demons distract is playful too: they disrupt, yet reinforce. They move in a circle, but the circle is hampered by the lines they effect. For example, one devil pierces another with a long shaft, while the flying fish add an aspect of horizontality to the circular motion of their flight. These circular/line contradictions evoke a devilish spirit, which is emphasized by the textures that each demon brings to their contradictory escapade: "In the air above, all is wild tumult; there are two knights who ride on fishes, and tilt at one another; one is a bird cased in an earthen mug for a coat of armor, and with a candlestick with a burning light in it stuck on his head by way of helmet; he pierces the other combatant with a long hop-pole through the neck, and this knight, who resembles a dried-up frog, seems to set up a fearful scream while he tosses his arms aloft" (Teniers 36). The textural description reveals the topsy-turvy nature of the demonic: it inverts the order of nature and reverses the hierarchy. The beasts of the sea fly in the air, while the fowl of the air wear armor made of earth.

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Juxtaposed with the very texture of the painting (oil on copper), these outrageous textural garbs assault both the eye and the mind. The scene is comedic and inventive, but should also serve to reinforce the seriousness with which the saint pledges his heart and mind to God -- and the instruction of the Lady should no less convince the viewer to do the same.

The saint is, after all, not enamored of the antics of the devils or of the beauty of the woman or of the doings of the peasantry: he is focused on one thing only -- meditation of the divine. The natural wood of the cross is what inspires him: and here the lines of the cross serve as the proper contradiction: the lines intersect in a symbolic gesture signifying the rejection of worldliness and temptations of the flesh: the contradictory circular and linear juxtapositions of the devils in the air are confounded by the contradictory lines in the cross. The lines of the cross should finally absorb the focus of the painting. In the world of Teniers divinity was reduced to a mere speck in a world of chaotic dance, but it remains nonetheless, and it is to this one small speck that St. Anthony devotes his life -- illuminating for us the way to sanctity in the process.

In conclusion, Teniers the Younger's Temptation of St. Anthony is more than an exercise in Flemish extravagance: it is also a religious reminder of the way to Heaven, which is through prayer and meditation on Christ -- rather than on the myriad distractions of the world.

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