In the year this picture was painted, the Hollywood Loew-Lewin production company selected twelve Surrealist artists to compete in the 'Bel Ami International Art Competition', commissioning each participant to paint their own interpretation of the 'Temptation of St Anthony'. The winning entry — chosen by judges Marcel Duchamp, Alfred H Barr Jr and Sidney Janis — would appear in the film The Private Affairs of Bel Ami, and receive a $3,000 cash prize. Amongst the competitors were Salvador Dalì, Leonora Carrington, Stanley Spencer and Max Ernst, whose 36 x 48 inch painting won.

Hobdell, who designed sets for the Ballets Nègres, and painted a number of backdrops for designer Angus McBean, had perhaps caught wind of the competition in 1945. Although there had been discussions amongst the production company about making the competition open to all artists, the film's director Albert Lewin insisted on limiting it to twelve invited competitors. It's possible that Hobdell had heard about the competition before the entries were limited, or was simply inspired by the theme to create his own Temptation of St Anthony, in which the martyr resists the Devil's temptations of lust and power.