Have one like this?
Upload a photo for a free check of what yours may be worth.
Lot description
Robert Auer, Croatian 1873-1952- The Temptation of Saint Anthony; oil on canvas, bears indistinct initials (lower right), 20.2 x 24.6 cm. Provenance: Anon. sale, Art Salon Zagreb, 17 December 2016, lot 73. Private Collection, UK. Note: A much larger version of the same composition by Auer is in the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb, Croatia [MG-367], which describes how 'Auer’s painting Temptation of Saint Anthony from 1917, depicts a frequently portrayed motif from the life of the 4th-century saint, Anthony the Abbot or Anthony the Great, who faced temptations of carnal desires and resisted them through prayer and fasting. Typically, St. Anthony the Abbot is depicted in his old age, leaning on a staff, wearing a hood and a monastic habit symbolizing his role as the father of monasticism. Here, however, he is shown in a whirlwind of nudes symbolizing the swirling vortex of passions against which he struggles, as a young man with a tonsure, a distinctive haircut introduced in Christianity in the 4th century and abolished in 1972.' Auer studied in Zagreb before travelling to Munich, where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts (1890-91) and the Kunstgewerbeschule (1892-95). Indeed, Auer was the only Croatian artist to participate in the Munich Secession Exhibition of 1896. The present work does not appear to be a preparatory sketch for the completed work, but instead a later version by the artist, perhaps completed as a private commission.