I pass the gazes of a Roman mummy mask and an Egyptian pharaoh as I turn a corner in the upstairs gallery of the Kimbell Art Museum and come face-to-face with Michelangelo’s monsters. I had no idea the Kimbell owned a Michelangelo, or that he painted anything other than the Sistine Chapel. But here it is, The Torment of Saint Anthony, an 18.5-by-13.75-inch work Michelangelo painted in 1487, when he was 12 years old. Within a 17th-century wooden frame, demonic hybrids of fish, gargoyles, and dragons hover around the airborne Saint Anthony, an Egyptian monk. They poke and pull at him, trying to frazzle the hermit who meditates in a cave most days, withstanding all temptation.
Kimbell Art Museum
3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth. 817-332-8451; kimbellart.org…