Discuss the medium employed in Saint Anthony Abbot Tempted by a Heap of Gold while giving consideration to the historical period and the practice of using this medium. Give examples of the technique the artist used in this painting and how the technique informed the subject matter

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The artist, Master of the Osservanza, used tempera paint as his medium, illustrating episodes from the life of Saint Anthony. Tempera was a popular medium in the early Renaissance, and the artist built up the forms of his work slowly, through layers of precise brushwork, resulting in a charming vision of what the artist perceived a desert must look like.