Teodor Axentowicz: The Anchorite (1881)

(National Museum, Warsaw, Poland)

A painting by the Polish artist Teodor Axentowicz (1859-1938). An anchorite is a person who withdraws from society and lives a prayer-oriented and ascetic life. Some of them retreated to the desert but others used cells often attached to churches. Some well-known anchorites are saint Anthony the Great, saint Jerome of Stridon and saint Simeon the Stylite. Painting from 1881.