Saint Anthony Abbot Exorcising a Woman Possessed by the Devil

Battista di Biagio Sanguigni's Saint Anthony Abbot Exorcising a Woman Possessed by the Devil, painted around 1420 for the National Galleries Scotland, depicts the desert father's power over demonic forces. Sanguigni was a Florentine painter and illuminator who worked in the orbit of Lorenzo Monaco Altarpieces featuring rows of standing saints served both liturgical and devotional functions, identifying the church's patron saints and giving worshippers specific objects for personal prayer.

The exorcism scene is rendered with dramatic immediacy, the possessed woman and the commanding saint painted in the decorative manner characteristic of the Lorenzo Monaco circle with luminous color and gold ground.