Temptation Of St. Anthony c. 17th century

David Teniers the Younger painted "Temptation Of St. Anthony" with oil on canvas; a well-worn and respected method of the 17th century. Note the artist's skilled application of paint, layering light and shadow to create dramatic contrasts. Teniers was a master of rendering texture, evident in the rough, earthy tones of the cave setting, the luminosity of the figures' skin, and their richly colored garments. He would have been a master of the layering process, with the knowledge of pigments and glazes passed down through generations of artists. Teniers engages with the tradition of religious painting, but turns it on its head. Rather than depicting a divine scene, he immerses us in a riotous, almost carnivalesque depiction of temptation. We might consider the politics of consumption at play here, with the artist creating a commodity for the art market, while simultaneously critiquing earthly desires. Ultimately, this artwork's material presence and method of production, are inseparable from its meaning, urging us to reconsider traditional distinctions between fine art and the wider world.