The legend of Saint Anthony Abbot, a fourth-century Egyptian hermit, tells of how he heroically resisted the devil's torments. Here he conquers victorious over the devil, who writhes under his feet. The saint's staff originally would have impaled the monster's mouth. Saint Anthony's order was founded in Europe in the eleventh century and was dedicated to the care of the sick. The Antonites had two hospitals in Alsace—at Isenheim and at Strasbourg—and this powerful and dignified figure may have belonged to one of them. Carved in the round, it may have been carried in procession and, when at rest, housed in an altar shrine.
