Collection Irina Austen ;

Sa vente, Londres, Christie’s, 20 octobre 1977, n° 21 (comme David II Teniers) ;

Vente anonyme ; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Mes Ader, Picard, Tajan, 15-16 décembre 1986, n° 51 (comme David II Teniers) ;

Vente anonyme ; Monte Carlo, Christie’s, 16 juin 1988, n° 22 (comme David II Teniers) ;

Collection particulière, France

Son of the painter and art dealer David Teniers I, our painter married the daughter of Jan Brueghel the Elder and in his career attracted a number of major commissions. In the service of Archduke Leopold-Guillaume in Brussels between 1651 and 1656 and then of his successor Don Juan of Austria, he also supplied the galleries of King Philip II of Spain and Stathouder William II of Nassau. He returned to Brussels in the early 1660s where he founded the Antwerp Academy in 1663.

Our beautiful small panel illustrates the Temptation of Saint Anthony. Originally recounted by Athanasius of Alexandria, the legend of the saint was popularised throughout Europe by various vernacular translations of his Vita Antonii as well as by Jacob de Voragine's Golden Legend, describing how Saint Anthony's faith was put to the test by the Devil. Usually depicted as taking refuge in his cave, as visible in the painting in the Louvre (INV 1880), here he is placed in a landscape of undergrowth that extends over a large part of the panel. As is customary, he is interrupted in his prayer by monstrous apparitions. A temptress approaches him and hands him a glass of wine, an invitation to drunkenness and earthly pleasures. She herself is accompanied by frightening hybrid figures drawn from the repertoire of Hieronymus Bosch.

The Temptation of Saint Anthony was one of David Teniers the Younger's favourite subjects, which he revisited throughout his career. Among his religious paintings, this theme constitutes the largest homogeneous group of works, with examples dating from 1635 to the mid-1660s.