Thursday, March 25, 2021

The Torment of St. Anthony by Michelangelo 1487

It is the first painting by Michelangelo and believed to have been painted when he was twelve or thirteen years old.

Anthony’s dramatic fights against the demons became a resilient Christian topos. The Torment of Saint Anthony, an oil and tempera depiction of the white-faced saint being teased and pulled by demons.

Saint Anthony is being held aloft by ten or so devils, including a weird fish with many spines and a trunk-like snout. The devil at the lower left of the group has breasts and a face in its perineum, which almost makes it double-ended.
The Torment of St. Anthony by Michelangelo 1487

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