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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
445583
label
The Temptation of Saint Anthony (First Series)
core
obj
dtoType
print
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
445583
contentType
print
title
The Temptation of Saint Anthony (First Series)
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
Q80001621
creators
1748
61664
367963
genreSpecific
Print
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Image: 19.8 x 14 cm (7 13/16 x 5 1/2 in.)
cul
France, 19th century
accession
1927.477
Source extras
tec
ten lithographs
tombstone
The Temptation of Saint Anthony (First Series), 1888. Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916), printed by Becquet (French), published by Edmond Deman. Ten lithographs; image: 19.8 x 14 cm (7 13/16 x 5 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1927.477
collection
PR - Lithograph
stateOfTheWork
I/I
editionOfTheWork
edition of 60 (58 printed)
inscriptions
inscription
initialed at bottom center of image: OR; printed at upper left: ODILON REDON; diagonally at right of image: TENTATION / DE / SAINT-ANTOINE / TEXTE DE GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
didYouKnow
Publisher Edmond Deman commissioned this portfolio after he saw an 1886 exhibition of Redon's work in Brussels, Belgium.
citations
citation
Yamamoto, Atsuko. <em>Redon, His Life and Works: I Want to Know More</em>. Tokyo: Bijutsu, 2011.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 32
catalogueRaisonne
Mellerio 83-93
creditline
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland
updatedAt
2026-05-29 09:01:10.924000
sourceId
445583
dept
Prints
coll
PR - Lithograph
med
ten lithographs
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
0133554c3bc6dd35