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| Temptation of St. Anthony by Hieronymus Bosch (By Gustavo Thomas. 2011) |
Hieronymus Bosch (El Bosco): TENTAÇÕES DE SANTO ANTÃO (Temptation of St. Anthony)
In September of this 2011 I visited the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (the National Museum of Ancient Art) in Lisbon, Portugal; a museum with one of the largest and most neglected collections of art, religious (Catholic) and universal art. Without dwelling on the sad conditions in which some of the works are on display at the museum I’ll go directly to the piece I wanted to share, "Temptations of St. Anthony" (Tentações de Santo Antônio, in Portuguese at the museum) by Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch.
As a performing artist I am deeply attracted, in one way or another, to those works of art which "tell stories", and there is nothing I can do about that attraction, so I enjoy when I find those works and try to learn about them. Temptation of St. Anthony is nothing but a bright and brilliant visual account of the story of San Antonio’s temptations, on his walk to sanctity, yes, with the unique way that only El Bosco (Bosch) knew how to do, and thanks to it has become an icon of universal art.
I heard that Bosch, if living in our time, would be a filmmaker and I have no doubts about it, but I'm sure he would be also a photographer and a painter, he would continue to be so. His painting is a recount, without words, and through living deep images, of the moral and physical temptations of San Anthony; each stamp (image or action) is painted in an apparent chaos, but manage to tell stories, and requires little prior knowledge of the life the saint to understand them. Perhaps, if there is no prior knowledge, we wouldn’t know the very details of the historical truth of the man, but we’d know much more of his life, his own images and his inner struggle. Now in our times, surpassed the religious context of the sixteenth century, who cares if this is the story of San Antonio or another character? The piece itself is powerful, appealing, entertaining, well executed, it’s a genial work of art.
This painting is also “dramaturgical” (theatrical), in the sense that Eugenio Barba sees Dramaturgy: as an interweaving of actions, images that have meaning for the spectator.
With “Temptation of St. Anthony” photographs I’m sharing here you will be entertained enough (using the zoom maybe helps you more): with several of these passages, with its characters, with the contemplation of its colors, and with its special way of saying things to the spectator.
What for me is inevitable, watching a painting also as a theatrical piece, for you can be an enriching exploration of another point of view in art, why not trying it?
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| Temptation of St. Anthony by Hieronymus Bosch (By Gustavo Thomas. 2011) |
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| Detail of Temptation of St. Anthony by Hieronymus Bosch (By Gustavo Thomas. 2011) |
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| Detail of Temptation of St. Anthony by Hieronymus Bosch (By Gustavo Thomas. 2011) |
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Detail of Temptation of St. Anthony by Hieronymus Bosch (By Gustavo Thomas. 2011)
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