Heilige Antonius de Grote als kluizenaar 1521

Sebald Beham made this engraving of Saint Anthony the Great as a Hermit in 1521. Anthony was an important figure of the early church, one of the first monks, who withdrew from society to live an ascetic life of prayer and labor in the Egyptian desert. Beham was a German artist working at the time of the Reformation. This image participates in the debates about the proper role of religious imagery. Here, Anthony sits in the wilderness with his Bible, bell, and cross. The image creates meaning through historical associations, it evokes the reformed belief that salvation is obtained by faith through scripture. It may be commenting on the social structures of the time. Is it self-consciously conservative or progressive? Does it critique the institutions of art? We can understand this image better by looking at related prints, engravings, and pamphlets from the time. In doing so, we can understand the role of art as contingent on social and institutional context.