In both hands the devil holds out a round stone, like a loaf.
Bible in art · Matthew
The Temptation of Christ
Juan de Flandes · c. 1500/1504
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Juan de Flandes painted this tiny oil panel, about 21 by 15 centimetres, around 1500–04. It belongs to a set of small scenes from the life of Christ made for Queen Isabella of Castile; after her death in 1504 the set was sold and scattered.
Jesus sits on a stone block in a green valley. The devil, disguised as a friar with a rosary, offers him a round stone — but horns show above his face and a claw peeps out under his habit. Far off, tiny figures stand on a tower and on a cliff top.
From the text
- The tempter: “tell these stones to become bread” (Matthew 4:3)
- The devil setting Jesus “on the pinnacle of the temple” (Matthew 4:5)
- “A very high mountain” where the devil shows him the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:8)
The artist’s own
- The devil disguised as a friar in a brown habit with a rosary, a figure from the painter’s own time
- Horns and a bird’s claw that give the disguise away
- All three temptations in one landscape, the later two small in the distance
- A green, wooded valley instead of a wilderness
Details
The stone
Horns
Two small horns poke out above the friar’s face.
The claw
Under the hem of the habit, a bird-like claw instead of a foot.
The answer
Jesus raises his right hand as he answers.
On the pinnacle
Two tiny figures on top of the tall tower — the second temptation.
On the mountain
Two pale figures on the cliff top — the third temptation.
Juan de Flandes, Hispano-Flemish, active 1496–1519. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1967.7.1) · Oil on panel · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)