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Source Description
This portfolio is one of three made by Odilon Redon inspired by avant-garde writer Gustave Flaubert’s novel <em>The Temptation of Saint Anthony </em>(1874). Captivated by the book’s fantastical account of moralizing tests encountered by a hermit in the desert, Redon executed charcoal drawings and attempted to evoke that medium’s dense blackness in his lithographs. Based on the text’s darkly imaginative tone rather than its actual content, the works in this series present invented monsters and figures in otherworldly settings with jarring tonal variations. Although Redon felt that the prints effectively translated the surreal universe of his source material, they were largely misunderstood in his own time.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
109199
label
It Is the Devil, Bearing Beneath His Two Wings the Seven Deadly Sins
core
obj
dtoType
print
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
109199
contentType
print
title
It Is the Devil, Bearing Beneath His Two Wings the Seven Deadly Sins
description
This portfolio is one of three made by Odilon Redon inspired by avant-garde writer Gustave Flaubert’s novel <em>The Temptation of Saint Anthony </em>(1874). Captivated by the book’s fantastical account of moralizing tests encountered by a hermit in the desert, Redon executed charcoal drawings and attempted to evoke that medium’s dense blackness in his lithographs. Based on the text’s darkly imaginative tone rather than its actual content, the works in this series present invented monsters and figures in otherworldly settings with jarring tonal variations. Although Redon felt that the prints effectively translated the surreal universe of his source material, they were largely misunderstood in his own time.
date
1888
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q107723676
creators
1748
61664
367963
genreSpecific
Print
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Image: 25.4 x 20 cm (10 x 7 7/8 in.)
cul
France, 19th century
accession
1927.477.3
Source extras
tec
lithograph
tombstone
The Temptation of Saint Anthony (First Series): It Is the Devil, Bearing Beneath His Two Wings the Seven Deadly Sins, 1888. Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916), printed by Becquet (French), published by Edmond Deman. Lithograph; image: 25.4 x 20 cm (10 x 7 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1927.477.3
series
The Temptation of Saint Anthony (First Series)
supportMaterials
description
China paper
description
wove paper
collection
PR - Lithograph
stateOfTheWork
I/I
editionOfTheWork
edition of 60 (58 printed)
inscriptions
inscription
printed at lower left, below image: Pl. II / C'est le diable, portant sous ses deux ailes les sept péchés capitaux.....
formerAccessionNumbers
1927.351
didYouKnow
Publisher Edmond Deman commissioned this portfolio after he saw an 1886 exhibition of Redon's work in Brussels, Belgium.
catalogueRaisonne
Mellerio 85
creditline
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:50:07.381000
sourceId
109199
dept
Prints
coll
PR - Lithograph
med
lithograph
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
7e3a6e509516d2bf