Anthony sits at centre, remote from the demons who threaten and tempt him – fantastic inversions of the order of God’s creation. A beautiful witch rises from the water before him, while devils attack the saint’s hermitage as if it were a fortress. Bosch was famed for the nightmarish fantasy and visual wit of his creatures. Hybrid assemblages, they are built upon a strange, only partly graspable logic that is somehow still plausible. His work enjoyed great fame throughout the 16th century and inspired many adaptations.
