More information
OVERVIEW - According The Gallery:
Legends of Anthony Abbot relate how the pious early Christian, forsaking society, journeyed into the wilderness to seek God. Anthony appears twice in this painting; in his foreground retreat, he resists the Devil's manifold temptations. After failing to yield to the evil lures, he is shown again being physically tortured while carried aloft by demons. Yet, the saint was saved by the purity of his soul.
The religious subject is presented in a revolutionary fashion; generations of earlier artists had tended to treat landscape as an unobtrusive backdrop of secondary importance, whereas now the landscape dominates the subject to such an extent that the temptation of Saint Anthony seems only incidental. This change of emphasis marks an important advance toward the development of pure landscape painting, in which Pieter Bruegel the Elder was an instrumental figure. Already, that delight in the natural world is apparent here in the shadowy depths of leafy forests, contrasting with open vistas of waterways, villages, and towns bathed in pearly light.
Perhaps the juxtaposition of a peaceful landscape with the temptations and attacks of demons was a subtle statement by this Bruegel follower on the political and moral brutalities of his time. Possibly Saint Anthony is meant allegorically to represent Everyman caught up in a world gone mad.
More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication Early Netherlandish Painting, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/early-netherlandish-painting.pdf
Credit line:
History:
Private collection, Brussels. (Robert Frank, London, by 1935); on consigment from 1937 with (M. Knoedler & Co., New York; joint purchase 1945 with (Pinakos [Rudolf Heinemann); purchased 1950 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1952 by exchange to NGA.
Literature:
1924 Friedländer, Max J. Die altniederländische Malerei 14 vols. 1924-1937. Leiden, 1937: 14:11-12, 58, no. 5, pl. 5. (English ed., 14 vols., 1967-1976. Leiden, 1976: 14:18, 42, no. 5, pl. 5.) 1932 Glück Gustav. Bruegels Gemälde. Vienna, 1937: 15-16, 27, 40, no. 6a. repro. 1935 Friedländer, Max J. "Review of Bruegel's Gemälde by Gustav Glück." The Burlington Magazine 67 (1935): 90. 1935 Glück, Gustav. "Über einige Landschaftsgemälde Pieter Bruegels des Älteren." Jb Wien N.F. 9 (1935): 151-157, 161-162, pl. 3, 154, fig. 105. 1935 Puyvelde, Leo van. "Zwei Gemälde von Pieter Bruegel d.Ä." Pantheon 15 (1935): 47-50, repros. 47, 49, facing 47. 1935 Tolnay, Charles de. Pierre Bruegel l'Ancien. Brussels, 1935: 96, no. 54. 1936 Glück Gustav. Das Bruegel Buch. Vienna, 1936: 9-10, no. 4, repro. (Also eds. 1941, 1951). 1936 Glück Gustav. Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Paris, 1936: 11, 23, no. 3, repro. 1937 Raczynski, Joseph Alexander. Die flämische Landschaft vor Rubens. Frankfurt, 1937: 53. 1938 Jedlicka, Gotthard. Pieter Bruegel. Der Maler in seiner Zeit. Erlenbach, 1938: 540. 1938 Wetering, Cornelis van de. Die Entwicklung der niederländischen Landschaftsmalerei vom Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts bis zur Jahrhundertmitte. Berlin, 1938: 66, pl. 456. 1951 Frankfurter, Alfred. "Interpreting Masterpieces. Twenty-four Paintings from the Kress Collection." Art News 50 (1951): 115-116, repro. 110. 1951 Frankfurter, Alfred. "Washington: Celebration Evaluation." Art News 50 (April, 1951): 31, 62, repro. 1951 Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 204, no. 90., repro., as Landscape with the Temptation of St. Anthony Abbot. 1952 Castelli, Enrico. Il Demoniaco nell'Arte. Milan and Florence, 1952: 67, 69, pl. 42. 1952 Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Interpreting Masterpieces: Twenty-four Paintings from the Kress Collection." Art News Annual 16 (1952): 115-116, repro. 110. 1953 Genaille, Robert. Brugel l'Ancien. Paris, 1953: 82, pl. 51. 1954 Hoogewerff, G.J. Het Landschap van Bosch tot Rubens. Antwerp, 1954: 48-49. 1956 Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 38, repro., as Landscape with the Temptation of Saint Anthony Abbot by Bruegel. 1957 Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 136. 1959 Delevoy, Robert. Bruegel. Geneva, 1959: 31-32, 39, repro. 1959 Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 291, repro., as by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder. 1960 Broadley Hugh T. Flemish Painting in the National Gallery of Art (Booklet no. 5 in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC). Washington, 1960: 8, 32-33, color repro. 1960 The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 6. 1961 Denis, Valentin. All the Paintings of Pieter Bruegel. New York, 1961: 45. 1961 Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 92, repro. pl. 84, color repro. pl. 85. 1962 Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Treasures from the National Gallery of Art, New York, 1962: 76, color repro. 1962 Puyvelde, Leo van. La peinture flamande au siècle de Bosch et Breughel. Paris, 1962: 118, 132, pl. 40. 1963 Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 128, repro. 129. 1965 Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 21, as by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder. 1966 Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:100-101, color repro., as by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder. 1968 European Paintings and Sculpture: Illustrations (Companion to the Summary Catalogue, 1965). Washington, 1968: 14, repro., as by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. 1968 Klein, H. Arthur, and Mina Klein. Peter Bruegel the Elder. Artist of Abundance. New York, 1968: 184. 1969 Classens, Bob, and Jeanne Rousseau. Our Bruegel. Antwerp, 1969: 229-230, fig. 7. 1969 Roberts-Jones, Philippe. Bruegel, le peintre et son monde. Brussels, 1969: 47, no. 5, repro. 1975 European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue (National Gallery of Art). Washington, 1975: 116-117, no. 1102, repro., as by Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1975 Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: fig. 191. 1977 Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 93-96, figs. 91-92, as Landscape with the Temptation of St. Anthony Abbot, Attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder. 1977 Pope-Hennessy, John. "Completing the Account." Review of Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, London 1977. Times Literary Supplement no. 3927 (17 June 1977). 1980 Unverfehrt, Gerd. Hieronymus Bosch: Die Rezeption seiner Kunst im frühen 16. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1980: 184. 1985 European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 70, repro. 1986 Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 29-33, repro. 31. 1992 National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 47, repro. 2004 Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 120-121, no. 91, color repro. 2008 Vanwijnsberghe, Dominique et. al. Autor de la Madeleine Renders. Brussels, 2008: 259, no. 210, repro.
Source:
Website 'pp.userapi.com' - Also on ‘nga.gov.’ and ‘wikimedia.org - Pieter Bruegel d. Ä 034’ - ‘Pieter Bruegel the Elder – The Temptation of St Anthony – WGA 3339’.
