Dutch school; 17th century."The Temptations of Saint Anthony Abbot".Oil on canvas. Re-retouched.It

Dutch school; 17th century.
"The Temptations of Saint Anthony Abbot".
Oil on canvas. Re-retouched.
It presents repainting and restorations.
Measurements: 61 x 77 cm; 75 x 90 cm (frame).
Devotional work in which the artist presents a classic composition, easy to read, but of great interest. In the first place, he clearly divides the space in two; the right zone in which a wide landscape is presented, in which we can see a great depth that is dominated, in its end, by an architectural construction that is located on the rocks, and in the left side a cave where we see a procession that swirls around the figure of Saint Anthony. According to legend, Saint Anthony was born around 251 in Egypt, and at a very young age he retired to the solitude of the desert. He was especially venerated in Catalonia, where adventures and miracles were attributed to him, which served as a theme for Jaume Huguet (1412-1492) for his great altarpiece of Saint Anthony in Barcelona. This saint is usually depicted as we see here, as a bearded old man wearing a hooded sackcloth, a common garment of the Antonites. He is usually depicted reading the Holy Scriptures, and the episode of his temptations in the desert is, together with his visit to Paul the hermit, the most frequently depicted. The iconography of the Temptations of Saint Anthony was first depicted in Italy in the 10th century, and in medieval Europe it was frequently depicted in painting, in illuminated books, and later in German engravings. It is a subject of particular interest because it reflects the struggle between Good and Evil, between Christ and Satan. The present work depicts the saintly hermit in the desert, meditating on the Scriptures and the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures, as the accompanying book attests, although the usual skull, cross and hourglass do not appear.
The work can be aesthetically related to the painting of Daniel Van Heil (Brussels, ca. 1604-1662)While in the 17th century the demand for religious art for churches radically ceased in the northern provinces of what is now Holland, monumental art in the service of the Catholic Church flourished in Flanders, partly due to the necessary restoration of the ravages that the wars had caused in churches and convents. In the field of secular art, Flemish painters worked for the court in Brussels and also for the other courts of Europe, producing paintings with classical, mythological and historical themes that were to decorate brilliantly the Royal Sites of Spain, France and England. In Holland, on the other hand, the artist's work was mainly for the bourgeoisie, who demanded small to medium-sized works and subjects that illustrated the life and nature of the region. While Flemish painters worked on commissions from patrons, Dutch painters painted in order to sell what they produced to the bourgeoisie. The demand for history or allegorical painting for the decoration of palatial residences almost completely disappeared; little monumental painting was produced in Holland in the 17th century, and much of it was done by Flemish artists.
Although Brussels was the political centre of Flanders, Antwerp was the city where the most important artistic activity had been centred since the 16th century. Antwerp had enjoyed a prominent position in Europe during that century, as its port had been the busiest in the Low Countries, and the Netherlands had prospered as a maritime power. The permanent blockade of the Scheldt River by the northern provinces in 1585 was to ruin trade in Antwerp, and it was Amsterdam that inherited the prosperity lost by the Flemish port. Despite this circumstance, Am