This is a finely detailed piece of artwork by Martin Schongauer. The piece "Demons Tormenting St. Anthony," is such an eye catcher to me how he engraved such detailed characters on a piece of metal then did prints of it. This piece of art doesn't even look like a print because of all of the detail, it looks like a pencil drawing that took many days to finish. The demons that are attacking St. Anthony are fictional characters that are so well detailed you can actually imagine them being real. In a sense these demons were probably actually real in a mental aspect to St. Anthony.
Are the demons, really fictional, or were they a form of thoughts and emotions that he had? I have heard of the saying "fight your inner demons" but I have not actually seen this illustrated until now. Rather intricate to say the least!
ReplyDeleteI like that you have brought a common saying to this piece - a perfect comparison. Now this is the image that will come to mind whenever I hear the phrase "fighting my own personal demons" or however it is said in your circle.
DeleteWell great minds think alike! for this piece I think that maybe, his ideas were too great, that they possessed over him and made him somewhat 'question' what he was doing, which is why I mentioned the whole "fighting inner demons" reference.
DeleteReally interesting thought. Great genius are often plagued by inner turmoil. It is almost like their brains are too small to handle the vast amount of stimulus that is coursing through them - too many electrical impulses. Reminds me of the movie A Beautiful Mind.
DeleteThis piece always makes me think about what Schongauer's personal demons were - did he possibly struggle with mental illness? or was he just able to visualize his own emotional struggles and put a face to them? In any case, he attention to detail is masterful.
ReplyDeleteI really like this piece because it just stands out so much from every other art piece that came out during this time period. I mean everything else that came out was very peaceful realistic pictures of Jesus, and this picture seems so imaginative and bizarre. And the way the artist uses demons to represent Anthony's inner-conflict was really cool
ReplyDeleteWell, it's as you said, mentally, these demons probably did exist in the mind of St. Anthony. Each demon probably has an inner conflict that he had to deal with in his every day life. Maybe not even all that serious, in reality, I think you could draw a conclusion from his calm expression in the picture, that these problems were quite minor to him. Maybe just bad memories, or deadlines, but they ate away at him, that's what I got from it at least.
ReplyDeleteThis piece is one of the most interesting that we've gOne over. The detail in it is amazing and very skillful. Honestly seeing this makes me jelious because it's that amazing. At times it can look a little cluttered but when you really look at it you notice every little detail
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