The Temptation of St. Anthony c. 17th century

This is David Teniers the Younger's "The Temptation of St. Anthony," made with oil paint sometime in the 17th century. Oil paint is made by laboriously grinding dry pigments into linseed oil, a process that makes brilliant, durable colors possible. Here, Teniers uses oil to great effect, capturing light as it flickers across the varied surfaces of the cave: rough stone, smooth skin, the sheen of the ceramics. He lays down paint with great dexterity, using fine brushes to capture the minutiae of detail. Notice the faces of the demons tempting the saint—each of them is individualized, as in a genre painting of everyday life. Teniers was both a court painter, producing works of the highest refinement, and a genre painter, documenting the lives of peasants. This picture suggests that a painter might inhabit both worlds, rendering the demonic and the mundane with equal attention. Ultimately, it invites us to consider how the very material of paint can be used to explore the boundaries between them.