The Hermit versus monsters

A Halloween discussion of the Hieronymus Bosch painting of “The Temptation of St Anthony”

A popular book in the Middle Ages was The Golden Legend read by many of the common people in the lowlands of Europe, written by Jacobus da Varagine.  (Printing books was in vogue by then.) It told the story of St. Anthony (251-356), a fourth century hermit who took up residence in a cave in the northern desert of Egypt. There he was hounded by a horde of monsters (evil demons of all sorts) and confronted with vile temptations, including visions of swooning, seductive women. He also fought enormous giants and armies of soldiers. In a contemplative atmosphere of prayer and spiritual meditation, he fought off these tempting fantasies and warded off the “Devil,” so to speak. He was called the “Father of Monks” and produced a book: The Sayings of the Fathers, which was widely read in early monasteries.

“…a monster is no more than a combination of parts of real beings, and the possibilities of permutation border on the infinite.”  Jorge Luis Borges, The Book of Imaginary Beings

In art, St Anthony’s life was examined by many Renaissance artists, most significantly by Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), who had no fear of portraying hideous monsters and human beings in absurd positions.  He painted a large-scale phantasmagoria of “The Temptation of St. Anthony” (4 1/2’ x 7 1/2’), which depicted a “witches Sabbath” going on beside St. Anthony at the altar, while the area around him swarmed with ugly demons. A so-called priestess wore a Mitre covered with thorns and vipers, and presided over a poisonous chalice. Bosch seemed to be making a parody of the actual Christian Mass. A beastly, fox-faced Bishop conducted a “Black Mass” reading from a dark book watched over by creepy demonic forms.  A sickly frog holds up an egg in place of the “Host” and a horde of demons pour out of a huge red gourd. This all seems to be symbolic of perverse human folly.

Bosch belonged to a group called the “Brotherhood of our Lady.” A swan was on their coat of arms. This is suspicious because in his painting of “The Wayfarer” (the fool), the swan was displayed on a brothel – a pagan symbol for Venus, the goddess of love. So, what did this mean? This group presented mystery plays complete with devil dances, ballets of ghosts and skeletons in comical parodies and farces about human nature. Their favorite was the temptation of the hermit. They probably read the book by Erasmus called “The Praise of Folly” as he lived for a while in Bosch’s hometown of Hertogenbosch (1485-87). Bosch was also probably influenced by Sebastian Brandt’s book “Ship of Fools,” which was published around the same time, with lots of graphic illustrations of foolish behavior.

“These silly people never tire of listening to preposterous tales of specters,

ghosts, evil spirits and hell fire.”  Erasmus (1509)

Most of Bosch’s paintings were full of social messages and moral lessons about the corruption and obscenities around town, especially about the hypocrisy of the church in collecting money from people who were buying their way to heaven in “indulgences” who paid up according to the severity of the sin. He shows the punishment of sinners in scenes of what would be called today as “shock tactics.” (And they didn’t have TV then to taunt everyone with murder, mayhem and horror movies, or the “daily horror” on the news networks - all furnished by ads featuring the drugs that could kill you and sleek fast cars driven by pretty women.)

Religious themes were explored of: “…how we ought to behave, what should we do and what shouldn’t we do.” (See catalog of a recent exhibition: Hieronymous Bosch, the Complete Paintings and Drawings, Abrams, 2001).  In a strange coincidence, the exhibition opened in Rotterdam on September 11, 2001.

The Lowland Painter, Bruegel, was greatly influenced by Bosch’s work as he continued to use Bosch’s fantastic monster images in his prints such as, “The Seven Deadly Vices and The Virtues,” which were sold everywhere. His paintings led to the new trend of depicting the everyday working life of peasants in the Netherlands and Germanic countries, rather than religious paintings commissioned by the Church, or scenes from Greek and Roman mythology.  Was all this a precursor to the Reformation? Something else to ponder.

When we think of The Hermit in Tarot, the usual meaning is to take time out to reflect upon your life; to examine how you have lived and what you have done both good and bad. Think about what imaginary beings have influenced your experiences and haunted you, especially on this Halloween night.  Whoeee!

Other references:

“Bosch:  A Biographical and Critical Study,” Robert L. Delevoy, Crown Publishers, 1960

“Bosch,” Mario Bussagli, Grosset & Dunlap, 1967

“The World of Bruegel,” Timothy Foote, Time-Life Books, 1968

“Signs and Symbols in Christian Art,” George Ferguson, Oxford University Press, 1954