The Torment of Saint Anthony

The Torment of Saint Anthony is believed to be Michelangelo's earliest surviving painting, executed around 1487-1488 when he was approximately twelve or thirteen years old and studying in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio. Based on an engraving by Martin Schongauer, it depicts the hermit saint being attacked by demons in midair. According to Vasari and Condivi, the young Michelangelo visited the fish market to study the scales and fins of real fish to make the demons more convincing. The painting is now in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

Despite the artist's extreme youth, the painting demonstrates remarkable skill in rendering the complex forms of the attacking demons, with careful attention to the texture of scales, claws, and wings. The composition follows Schongauer's engraved model but adds original details and a more fully developed landscape background. The tempera and oil technique shows the influence of Ghirlandaio's workshop methods, though the vigorous modeling of the figures already hints at Michelangelo's future power.