The Torment of Saint Anthony is the earliest known painting by Michelangelo, painted after an engraving by Martin Schongauer when he was only 12 or 13 years old. It is currently in the permanent collection of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. It shows the common medieval subject, included in the Golden Legend and other sources, of Saint Anthony being assailed in the desert by demons, whose temptations he resisted; the Temptation of St Anthony is the more common name of the subject. But this composition shows a later episode where St Anthony, normally flown about the desert... supported by angels, was ambushed in mid-air by devils. The painting was previously attributed to the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio, under whom Michelangelo had served his apprenticeship. Under that attribution it was bought at a Sotheby's auction in July 2008 by an American art dealer for US$2 million. When the export license was obtained that September, it was brought to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it was cleaned of discoloured varnish and later overpainting and closely examined for the first time.
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