''The Torment of Saint Anthony'' (or ''The Temptation of Saint Anthony'', c. 1487–88) is attributed to

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...

, who painted a close copy of the famous engraving by

Martin Schongauer Martin Schongauer (c. 1450–53, Colmar – 2 February 1491, Breisach), also known as Martin Schön ("Martin beautiful") or Hübsch Martin ("pretty Martin") by his contemporaries, was an Alsatian engraver and painter. He was the most important ...

when he was only 12 or 13 years old. There is no evidence that this painting was done by

.TheGuardian
"Texas Museum Acquires Disputed Michelangelo"
/ref> This painting is now in the

Kimbell Art Museum The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts an art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library. Its initial artwork came from the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell, wh ...

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

.Brown, Angela K.
Texas museum acquires Michelangelo's 1st painting

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

2009-05-13, retrieved 2009-05-13 It shows the common medieval subject, included in the ''

Golden Legend The ''Golden Legend'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...

'' and other sources, of Saint Anthony (AD 251 – 356) being assailed in the desert by

demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime ...

, whose temptations he resisted; the '' Temptation of St Anthony'' (or "Trial") is the more common name of the subject. But this composition apparently shows a later episode where St Anthony, normally flown about the desert supported by

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

s, was ambushed in mid-air by

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

Ownership

The painting was previously attributed to the workshop of

Domenico Ghirlandaio Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi (, , ; 2 June 1448 – 11 January 1494), professionally known as Domenico Ghirlandaio, also spelled as Ghirlandajo, was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Florence. Ghirlandaio was part of t ...

, under whom Michelangelo had served his apprenticeship.Vogel, Carol
''By the Hand of a Very Young Master?''
''The New York Times'', 12 May 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2009. Under that attribution it was bought at a

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

auction in July 2008 by an American art dealer for US$2 million. When the export license was obtained that September, it was brought to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, where it was cleaned of discoloured varnish and later overpainting and closely examined for the first time. On the basis of stylistic hallmarks such as "emphatic cross hatching", it was decided that the painting was indeed by Michelangelo. It was soon bought by the Kimbell Art Museum for an undisclosed amount, believed to be in excess of $6 million. Though

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

states that Michelangelo painted a copy of Schongauer's print, there is no evidence that this is that painting. TheGuardian
"Texas Museum Acquires Disputed Michelangelo"
/ref>

Characteristics

in his ''

Lives of the Artists ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' ( it, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori), often simply known as ''The Lives'' ( it, Le Vite), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-ce ...

'' noted that Michelangelo had painted St. Anthony after a print by Schongauer, and

Ascanio Condivi Ascanio Condivi (1525 – 10 December 1574) was an Italian painter and writer. Generally regarded as a mediocre artist, he is primarily remembered as the biographer of Michelangelo. Biography The son of Latino Condivi and Vitangela de' Ric ...

recorded that Michelangelo had gone to a market to draw fish scales, a feature not present in the original engraving. Besides this enhancement, Michelangelo also added a landscape below the figures, and altered the expression of the saint.

Legacy

It is one of only four surviving

panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not paint ...

s by Michelangelo, whom Vasari records as speaking disparagingly of

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest ...

in later life, and the only one, if the new attribution holds, from his adolescence. Schongauer's late-Gothic style is also in strong contrast with the rest of Michelangelo's oeuvre, even in his youth. The prints of Schongauer, just reaching the end of his short life when Michelangelo copied him, were widely distributed in Europe, including Italy.Shestack, no. 34 Schongauer Anthony

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torment Of Saint Anthony, The Religious paintings by Michelangelo 1480s paintings Paintings of Anthony the Great Demons in art Ships in art Paintings in the collection of the Kimbell Art Museum