Getty Museum
The Temptation of Saint Anthony
Creator
Lieven van LathemFlemish Illuminator · 1430–1493
All works by this person →One of the most successful illuminators in Flanders, Lieven van Lathem worked for powerful patrons including the dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Good, and Charles the Bold. A member of the painter's guilds in Ghent and Antwerp, van Lathem collaborated with some of the most talented Flemish illuminators of the time, including the Master of Mary of Burgundy and Nicolas Spierinc *.* Influenced by the N
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1469
- Medium
- Tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint, silver paint, and ink
- Culture
- Flemish
- Department
- Manuscripts
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Saint Anthony looks up from his prayer book and rosary to see a beautiful woman offering a chalice. Anthony Abbot withdrew to the Egyptian desert in the 300s to live a hermit's life. According to his biographer, Anthony endured many assaults from the devil in the form of seductive and horrible visions. Here the illuminator, Lieven van Lathem, presented the saint's desert retreat as if it were situated outside a prosperous Flemish town of the 1400s, while the alluring woman is shown in fashionable attire of the time. Anthony wears the black robe of the order of Hospitallers, which took Saint Anthony as its patron saint. Given a papal dispensation that allowed their pigs to roam freely in medieval towns, the order took on the animal as its emblem. In this miniature van Lathem has depicted a pig at Anthony's side.
The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Getty Museum and other institutions.