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Sorry, a diversion.
Whoever it was that painted this image of St Anthony looking in some
alarm at the (now non-existent) heap of gold was an extraordinary artist. Timothy
Hyman, in
Sienese Painting, says that the loss of the heap of gold was a blessing in one sense - in removing the
main focus of the picture, we look at the landscape. I would add something
further - the picture now suggests that only Anthony could see the gold - it wasn't
really there at all.
This landscape shows an artist with ideas
well before his time. The wild sky, the strange, threatening trees, the
solitary animals, the
eerie rock formations, the lonely ship on the lake sailing towards the dark
tower, all reflect the psychological state of the
the solitary figure - more de Chirico than 14th century Siena, more Jung
than fourth century theology. Salvador Dali had a go at it,
(see below), but didn't come close to the power of the Sienese
Master. For me, there is a powerful modern parallel, however; one so well known
I don't really need to label it. |
