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The Hermit Saints Triptych was painted towards the middle of Bosch's career. It is perhaps the most important results of Bosch's stay in Venice. Here he enlarged the view of the landscape and sought to capture atmospheric effects. The painting is full of those bizarre and disquieting apparitions that are a distinctive feature of his works.
In the centre St Jerome fastens his gaze on a crucifix, secure against the evil world symbolized by the remains of a pagan temple scattered around him on the ground and by two monstrous animals engaged in a death struggle below. On the left, St Anthony the Hermit resists the amorous advances of the Devil-Queen. Snugly ensconced in a cave chapel on the right wing, St Giles prays before an altar, the arrow piercing his breast commemorating the time when he was shot accidentally by a passing hunter. All three saints reflect the monastic ideal: a life spent in mortification of the flesh and in continuous prayer and meditation.
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