Temptations of St. Anthony Hieronymus Bosch Description

In his work "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" Bosch put his soul. His famous triptych is one of the artist's best paintings. The basis for writing was the plot of Middle Ages literature about how St. Antony succumbed to terrible temptations in the Egyptian desert. The original of the painting is kept in the State Museum of Lisbon. In Portugal, the canvas was in 1523: then it was acquired by Damiao de Goiche, a famous Portuguese humanist. It has a canvas and several copies (there are about 20 of them).
This masterpiece of European painting, created by Bosch, has several components. Thus, in the central part of the triptych, the very "Temptation of St. Antonia ", on the left shutter -" Flight and fall ... ", on the right -" Visions ... ". On the outer doors are depicted episodes of the Passion of Christ.
The central part of the triptych is filled with fantastic characters. So, the white bird turned into a real ship with wings, which rose to the sky. Most likely, the inventions of Bosch were based on graffiti on coins of the era of Alexander the Great.
In the center of the canvas, the ceremony of the black mass is performed, which indicates the conflicting attitudes and embarrassment of the master of the brush. Here female priests rule the sacrilegious service. They are surrounded by a mixed crowd: after the cripple to the sinful communion hurries on a mandolin-playing creature, dressed in a black raincoat, which has an owl and a boar on its head. In the circumstances, the owl symbolizes lies, although in other sources it is a symbol of light forces, the so-called God's eye, watching the actions of participants in the alchemical process.
Monsters emerge from a huge fruit of red color. Their leader - the devil - plays the harp. In the background, there is a sorcerer in the cylinder, who manages the actions of a group of demons. At the bottom of the canvas, the artist painted a floating duck without a head, on the neck of which there is a small window, from where the demon peeps out.
The main character of the left shutter is St. Anthony. He fell from the sky and the antonites lifted him. At the top of the door, the Saint folded his hands in prayer, ignoring his tormentors.
On the right wing Anthony is presented to the viewer as a knight of a firm faith who defeated the evil forces.
The great artist Bosch believed that the alchemists are real heretics. The master of the brush tried very hard to open the viewer's eyes to how wrong the interpretation of the Bible is in the alchemists with their heretical thoughts.