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This sculpture adaptation of Saint Anthony on Flying Frog with Rats by Bosch is an astounding recreation of the ills of mankind as interpreted by Bosch. On the left panel of Bosch's original triptych, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, the Saint is carried away after he has been battered by the devil. In the sacred story he is once again assaulted and tossed high into the air by the devils. Poor Anthony here lies praying on a flying frog, whilst he is being besieged by devils in wolves clothing. The frog appears on the painting as an androgynous symbol several times. This statue replica of Bosch's two dimensional painting has extraordinary details from all sides. You will look at it in wonder as to how Bosch's mind conceived of such an unusual little fellow.
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ABOUT THE ARTWORK: THE TEMPATION OF SAINT ANTHONY Saint Anthony
won a lot of praise in Hiëronymus Bosch's heyday. He resisted
diabolical temptations, in sharp contrast with the ordinary mortals, as
this triptych portrays in splendid colours. The closed panels show the
arrest and crucifixion of Jesus.
ABOUT THE ART PERIOD: From
an artistic point of view, the world famous brilliant forerunner of
surrealism was, in his day, unique and radically different. Hiëronymus
(Jeroen for schort) Bosch was born (ca. 1450-1516) during the
transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance in ‘s-Hertogenbosch,
in the Duchy of Brabant. Bosch places visionary images in a hostile
world full of mysticism, with the conviction that the human being, due
to its own stupidity and sinfulness has become prey to the devil
himself. He holds a mirror to the world with his cerebral irony and
magical symbolism, sparing no one. He aims his mocking arrows equally
well at the hypocrisy of the clergy as the extravagance of the nobility
and the immorality of the people. Hiëronymus Bosch’s style arises from
the tradition of the book illuminations (manuscript illustrations from
the Middle Ages). The caricatural representation of evil tones down its
terrifying implications, but also serves as a defiant warning with a
theological basis.
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