Temptations and Aggressions

Even if the fear of hell has largely disappeared from our cultural horizon, the images it inspired live on, in all their terrifying inventiveness. In The Temptation of Saint Anthony, German engraver Martin Schongauer shows us a famous episode in which the ascetic, withdrawn to the desert, fights against torturing and obscene visions sent by the Devil.
A swarm of creatures swirl around the saint and tear him apart. These strange monsters, unlikely mixtures of tails, spines, horns and claws, closely evoke the evil bestiary that remained prominent through the work of Schongauer’s contemporary, Jerome Bosch.