https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Domenico_Morelli_-_Le_tentazioni_di_Sant%27Antonio.jpg
The Temptation of Saint Anthony portrays the supernatural temptation faced by Saint Anthony the Great while in the Egyptian desert. The scene depicted bears some resemblance to Benjamin-Constant's (Jean-Joseph-Benjamin Constant) Odalisque.
(http://www.cultora.it/art-pills-domenico-morelli-la-pittura-mistica-religiosa/)
The temptations of St. Anthony, according to Domenico Morelli.
The temptations of Sant'Antonio by Domenico Morelli is an oil on canvas that has always intrigued me a lot. The artist finished the painting around 1878 , but before reaching the end of the painting M. made a whole series of studies and drawings that highlight how much this topic interested him, it is true that in one of the first versions of the work the saint was leaning against the rock with his arms wide open (a sort of reference to the crucifixion).
In all likelihood, the Italian artist took as a reference point La temptation de Saint-Antoine , by Gustave Flaubert of 1874, even if in reality there are no precise documents that certify this possible source. The painting, sent in 1878 , to the French merchant Goupil to be presented at the Universal Exposition in Paris today is located at GNAM (National Gallery of Modern Art) in Rome.
Who was the saint? St. Anthony was the founder of anchorite monasticism (characteristic of monks who live in isolation dedicating themselves to prayer and contemplation) and St. Anthony during his long life was tempted and beaten by the devil on several occasions, but with his tenacity and faith , he always managed to emerge victorious and strengthened in spirit. In this oil on canvas Morelli painted precisely the moment of maximum emotional transport of the saint in the grip of temptation .
All this takes place in a cave (a kind of cave) completely bare. The saint is seated and lives in the bare stone which, seen in this way, gives a feeling of cold and frost, despite the brilliant light that radiates from the right and that invests the saint and the temptation lying beside him.
Saint Anthony sits crouched with his legs curled up and pulled towards his torso. His hands tightly grip his chest, as if to keep under control the incessant tremor of the torture that grips his body. The face is framed by a kind of white hood, from which emerges a gaunt face where an expression of complete loss is printed .
The open mouth in a scream that seems unable to be heard and the wide open eyes , lost in the void, are the expression of the torment that overwhelms this man enclosed in his most total painful solitude, represented in the arduous attempt to fight and resist carnal temptation .
The torment , or temptation, sent to the saint by the devil is on his right, where female bodies in movement can be seen from under a heavy straw mat . On the far left (ours) we see a woman's face coming out of the mat and two others emerge from the dark background of the cavern.
In the foreground, near the saint, there is another female figure , with solid and florid breasts. The face is half hidden by the figure of the crouching saint, but that mouth open in a sensual smile, the red hair and the gold jewelry that adorn the figure are the naked and raw sensuality that puts a strain on the soul and the body. of the saint himself.
The pictorial technique of Morelli, a romantic painter, is characterized by a full-bodied and rapid drafting of the color that builds the figures and objects present in the canvas (also interesting is the presence of a sort of lectern / desk carved into the rock that can be seen at the extreme right - our- of the saint). A full-bodied and material painting very close to Delacroix.
When the painting was presented in France, it sparked conflicting reactions for the atmospheres put in place characterized by a perfect blend of realism and symbolism, mystical tension and eroticism that reminded a little of Bernini's Transverberation of Saint Teresa , which in a pill of previous art I defined an example of sacred eroticism.
Domenico Morelli, born in Naples in July 1823, was the adopted son of Francesco Soldiero and Maria Giuseppa Mappa. Only in 1848 Domenico Soldiero added the surname Morelli, which he then adopted as the only one. M. began attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples in 1836, producing works of a romantic setting and ideal, with numerous medieval influences. In 1848 he won a competition which allowed him to go to study in Rome where, after having taken part in the riots of 1848, he was imprisoned for a short period. In 1850 he visited Florence and here he received his first public recognition for his work The Iconoclasts . In 1855 he participated, together with Francesco Saverio Altamura and Serafino De Tivoli, in the Universal Exposition in Paris and, returning to Florence, participated in the debates of Macchiaioli on pictorial realism. An involvement that led him to take on a less academic style where realism and late romanticism merged . In the sixties of the nineteenth century he was appointed consultant of the national museum of Capodimonte bringing new acquisitions of works and contributing to the management of art collections. In 1868 M. obtained the teaching chair at the Academy (where he had studied), turning his attention to religious, mystical and supernatural themes. Between the '70s and' 80s he painted paintings having oriental scenes as subject, although he had never been in those places, thus entering the current of Italian orientalists who included painters such as Alberto Pasini, Roberto Guastalla, Federico Faruffini, Eugenio Zampighi, Pompeo Mariani, Giuseppe Molteni and others. From 1899 until his death in 1901, M. was director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples.
