The Lisbon Temptation of St. Anthony by Jerome Bosch

Abstract

TU lux astrorum, tu decus astrigerum,” sang mediaeval monks in praise of monasticism's legendary founder, St. Anthony Abbot: “Anachoreta potens, pastor, patriarcha, magister….” In adoration and reverence the laity was equally fervent when at the close of the mediaeval period St. Anthony achieved his apogee in art, literature, and the popular mind. His famous temptations struck the imagination, and appealed particularly to Jerome Bosch.¹ However, the striking originality of Bosch's several versions of the temptation theme, with their visionary and even realistic portrayal of the world, can be understood only in terms of his era. It was a time of pestilence and turbulence, of economic, social, and religious unrest; an age which believed in chiliasm, Antichrist, apocalyptic visions; in witchcraft, alchemy, and astrology. On the other hand it was an age of rational investigation and humanistic approach. It was also a period of extreme pessimism, the natural outcome of a belief in demons fostered by the Church itself—it was Thomas Aquinas who had said that all that happens visibly in this world can be done by demons.² With the world so under the control of the Devil, what chance then had the average man of achieving salvation? The great scholastics having set the stage, the fears of the age leading to demonomania were confirmed and concretely expressed in the papal bull, Summis desiderantes … of Innocent VIII, issued on December 9, 1484.