Hermitary - Gallery - Art

About the images on this page

Anthony the Great (251-356) is considered by historians to be the founder of eremitism in ancient Christianity. But artists persuaded by St. Jerome's brilliant little hagiographical biography of St. Paul of Thebes cleary preferred Paul as the subject of their paintings. The biograpy of Anthony by bishop Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373) is equally hagiographical but an uninspiring catalog of dramatic demonic events: interventions, seductions, and fearful apparitions that Anthony regularly rebuffs. In St. Jerome's story, the harried Antony is clearly subordinate to the worldly-wise and ascetic Paul. Indeed, asceticism would become the hallmark of eremitism in the West, which was not largely sassociated with Anthony.
Noteworthy in both Guercino paintings and in Dolci and Restout is inclusion of the descent of the God-sent crow with the daily ration of a bread loaf for the holy hermit, a clear symbol of divine esteem for Paul's piety.