Monster Playing the Harp from Temptation of St Anthony Figurine, by Hieronymus Bosch

Monster Playing the Harp from Temptation of St Anthony, by Hieronymus Bosch. 2017 figurine, part of the Parastone Museum Statue Collection (Mouseion 3D). Approx. 5.5”x3 3/8”x5”. Sold out/discontinued figure. Comes loose without box, as pictured.

This creature with its monstrous skull is riding on a peculiarly plucked goose-like creature. He is playing his harp, here as a symbol for one of the many temptations to which mankind is exposed and which Saint Anthony so bravely resisted. Even in those days, making music could apparently lead to lecherous behavior.

Hieronymus Bosch was born (ca. 1450-1516) during the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. A forerunner to what we now call dark surrealism, his visionary images are placed in a hostile world full of mysticism, with the conviction that human beings, due to our own stupidity and sinfulness have become prey to the devil himself. Bosch holds a mirror to the world with his cerebral irony and magical symbolism, sparing no one. He aims his mocking arrows equally well at the hypocrisy of the clergy as the extravagance of the nobility and the immorality of the people. Hieronymus Boschs style arises from the tradition of the book illuminations (manuscript illustrations from the Middle Ages), and the caricature representation of evil in his artwork tones down its terrifying implications, but also serves as a defiant warning with a theological basis.