This panel, Sassetta’s first known work, was part of the predella of a triptych commissioned in 1423 by the Woolmakers’ Guild for their chapel in the Carmel Church in Siena. This altarpiece represents the doctrine of transubstantiation in which bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. Its execution was contemporary with a Council held in Siena that reaffirmed this sacrament, in a bid to fight against heresies that challenged it.

The central panel is dedicated to the glory of the Eucharist in the form of a great monstrance, while the painting underlying the predella naturally shows the Last Supper, the last meal of Christ and the Apostles at which the Eucharistic sacrament was instituted. The predella included two panels devoted to the life of St Anthony, of which the only remaining episode features his temptation by devils. As the patron saint of woolmakers, his presence is also explained by his struggle against Arianism (a school of thought in the fourth century considered heretic which relativised the divine nature of Christ) – the first great heresy in the history of the fourth-century Church.

The landscape is structured via a superimposition of motifs culminating in a bright, atmospheric sky and a rejection of traditional layering. Here, the shapes and colours all relate to each other. The saint's body extends into the right arm of the devil on the right and the back of the devil on the left and is echoed by the hills and the hermit stick on the ground. The unity of light is obtained through a delicate palette that harmoniously echoes the same range of greys, greens and browns stretching towards the setting sun in the background.

Gold leaf covers the support and appears in reserve or scratching on the body of the devils. These have since been damaged by a zealous believer who has fallen prey to the illusory incarnation of the image. The gold leaf was intended to make the painting brighter, thus creating a precious glossy effect.