The Temptation of Saint Anthony is an oil-on-oak, single-panel painting by the Early Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch, executed c.1500-1510.

[1] The painting features a scene from the life of Saint Anthony in which he was being tempted to sin by demonic spirits.

[4] In its time at the museum, it has undergone research to settle disputes over the true artist of the painting.

Though St. Anthony's life was originally recorded by Saint Athanaius in 357 CE, it was popularized in Europe during the thirteenth century after being included in the Legenda Aurea.

[8] In the fifteenth and early sixteenth century it was a popular belief among Europeans that St. Anthony had the power to either punish sinners with the disease or heal those afflicted.

In this scene, St. Anthony is surrounded by these small grotesque demons in line with Bosch's typical style.

[1] Also prevalent in this piece is the presence of food, such as the roasted bird over the water and on the set table the spoon-billed creature is seated at.

Alongside St. Anthony's positioning and crock, the creatures are the primary connection between the Kansas City piece and other works by Bosch.

In the Kansas City Temptation of St. Anthony, the fox-headed creature is featured as one of the demons causing mischief for the saint.

The spoon-billed creature is also a feature in The Garden of Earthly Delights, it is noticeable on the right panel in the Hell scene.

This hoof is a stand in for a full goat which in Bosch's work and across Flemish Renaissance art represents both merrymakers and inappropriate sexuality.

[1] The retouching of the piece made it so the work of the artist could only be identified after professionals analyzed the underdrawing revealed by infrared photography.

The research team used the similarities between these figures positions and their action of filling the crock with water as evidence the Kansas City piece was painted by Bosch.