Temptation of St. Anthony (recto); Fantastic Landscape (verso)

Attributed to Jan Wellens de Cock Netherlandish

ca. 1520

Not on view

This drawing depicts motifs associated with representations of the Temptation of Saint Anthony. The bearded saint kneels in prayer before a rock supporting a book, resistant to the torments and temptations offered by the surrounding figures. A couple approach Anthony from the left, while a variety of demons proceed past a tree toward him from the right. Though the image of the saint, his tormentors, and the burning building behind are in proper proportion to each other, they are not contiguous. The prominent, undefined areas of empty space on the sheet and the lack of relationship between the foreground figures and background, in particular, suggest that these motifs were not conceived in preparation for another work but were copied from an unknown source. The drawing style is consistent with works associated with Jan Wellens de Cock, an Antwerp-based painter and draftsman who had close ties to the Mannerist school in the early sixteenth century. The arrangement of motifs on the Museum's sheet is similar in conception to a 1522 woodcut by de Cock depicting the same subject.

Artwork Details

Title: Temptation of St. Anthony (recto); Fantastic Landscape (verso)
Artist: Attributed to Jan Wellens de Cock (Netherlandish, Leiden ca. 1480–before 1527 Antwerp)
Date: ca. 1520
Medium: Pen, or point of the brush, and gray ink, heightened with white gouache, on green prepared paper; verso: pen and brown ink
Dimensions: 7 5/8 x 9 15/16 in. (19.3 x 25.2 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971
Object Number: 1972.118.276
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Jan Wellens de Cock

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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The Temptation of Saint Anthony

Jan Wellens de Cock

1522

Still Life with Flowers, a Snail and Insects, Joris Hoefnagel Netherlandish, Watercolor, gouache, and shell gold on vellum — Still Life with Flowers, a Snail and Insects
Joris Hoefnagel
1589

Otto, Count of Nassau and his Wife Adelheid van Vianen, Bernard van Orley Netherlandish, Pen and brown ink, watercolor over black chalk (recto); tracing in black chalk of the figures on the recto (verso) — Otto, Count of Nassau and his Wife Adelheid van Vianen
Bernard van Orley
1530–35

Diana and Actaeon, Bartholomeus Spranger Netherlandish, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash, white heightening, over traces of black chalk, on paper washed blue and pink — Diana and Actaeon
Bartholomeus Spranger
ca. 1580–85

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