St. Augustine in "St.

Jerome's Study": Carpaccio's Painting and Its Legendary Source

Author(s): Helen I. Roberts
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Dec., 1959), pp. 283-297
Published by: College Art Association
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ST. AUGUSTINE IN "ST. JEROME'S STUDY":

CARPACCIO'S PAINTING AND
ITS LEGENDARY SOURCE*
HELEN I. ROBERTS

painting of an ecclesiastical scholar in an oratory (Fig. 3), which hangs in the

Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni in Venice to the right of two scenes from the life of
St. Jerome, has been universally referred to as a representation of St. Jerome. Apparently
no interpretative description prior to Ruskin's of 1884 exists,' and no document dating from
Carpaccio's period of activity has been found that refer to the painting, or, for that matter, to
any of the paintings of the cycle.2 The subject matter is to be inferred only from the contents of
the painting itself and from its position in the series, both of which present incongruities if the
seated figure is considered to be St. Jerome.
The painting is the last of a series of Carpaccio'sscenes from the lives of saints that begins at
the left of the entrance door of the lower room of the Scuola and proceeds around the room to
ARPACCIo's

the right.3Preceding it are two scenesunquestionablyfrom the life of St. Jerome (Figs. I, 2).
The first illustrates an episode, well known from the Golden Legend and appearingin other
literary sources,in which the saint fearlessly receives a lion which had come to the monastery
with a thorn in its foot.' Second is the death of a person resemblingthe saint of the previous
* This study was first made as an M.A. thesis in 1956-1958
under the direction of Professor James S. Ackerman at the University of California at Berkeley. It developed from a consultation with Professor Edward E. Lowinsky concerning the music
in Carpaccio's painting. His immediate observation that the
painting seemed more suitable as a representation of Augustine
than of Jerome provided the stimulation of doubt concerning
Carpaccio's subject matter and led to a reexamination of Carpaccio's cycle and its possible literary sources. I am very grateful for the continued assistance of Professors Ackerman and
Lowinsky.
For his generous response by letter to my request for information, I should like to thank Dr. Erwin Panofsky of the
Institute for Advanced Study. I am also grateful for the assistance of Drs. Daryll Amyx and Juergen Schulz of the
University of California, and Michelangelo Muraro, formerly
of the Soprintendenza ai Monumenti, Venice. I should also
like to extend personal thanks for chores kindly performed
and suggestions given by Dr. and Mrs. Robert Brentano, Eugene Brunelle, Dr. Herschel Chipp, Ernest Mundt, and by
traveling friends who kindly obtained information for me. For
assistance in obtaining photographs I should like to thank Mr.
Ernest Nash of the Fototeca di Architettura e Topografia
dell'Italia Antica, and those who have furnished me the means
of approaching the possessors of the pictures discussed, as well
as the institutions and firms who have provided the photographs.
I greatly appreciate the kindness of the staff of the Scuola
Dalmata dei SS. Giorgio e Trifone in facilitating my examinations of the painting.
I. John Ruskin, St. Mark's Rest, New York, 1884, pp. 129133. Neither descriptions of the painting nor mention of its
title are to be found in the following early accounts: Marcantonio Michiel's Notizia (Der Anonimo morelliano, ed. Theodor
Frimmel, Vienna, 1896, in Ilg, Quellenschriften fiir Kunstgeschichte und Kunsttechnik) 5 Giorgio Vasari, Le vite de' piz'
eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori (ed. Milanesi, Florence,
1878) III, pp. 627-678i Marco Boschini, Le ricche minere

della pittura veneziana, Venice, 1674, Castello:, p. 37; Carlo

Ridolfi, Le maraviglie dell'Arte, Venice, 164.8, p. 30, ed.
Hadeln, Berlin, 1914, p. 47; A. M. Zanetti, Descrizione di tutte
le pubbliche pitture . . . di Venezia, Venice, 1733, p. 229;
idem, Della pittura veneziana, Venice, 1771, p. 37 3 Flaminio
Corner, Notizie storiche delle chiese . . . di Venezia, Padua,
1758, pp. 168-172, L'Abbe Moschini, Itineraire de la ville de
Venise, Venice, I819, p. 24i idem, Nuova guida per Venezia,
Venice, 1840, p. 52.
2. The lack of documents in the archives of the Scuola concerning Carpaccio's paintings has been noted by Oswaldo Bbhm,
L'eglise de S. Georges des Esclavons a Venise, Florence, 1904,
p. i1; by Gustav Ludwig and Pompeo Molmenti, The Life
and Works of Vittorio Carpaccio, London, 1907, p. 115; and
by Terisio Pignatti, Carpaccio, Lausanne, 1958, p. 56. No
other author discussed here refers to any record of the paintings.
3. The scenes, as listed in Michelangelo Muraro, Victor
Carpaccio alla Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni in
Venezia, Milan, I956, p. 20, are (left to right):
I. St. George Fighting the Dragon (1.36 x 3-54m)
2.
Triumph of St. George (1.36 x 3.55m)
3. St. George Baptizes the King of Selene and His Court
x 2.85m)
(I139
4. Madonna Enthroned w'ith Angels
5. St. Triphonius Exorcises the Demon Tormenting the
Emperor's Daughter (1.41 x 3.oom)
6. Agony in the Garden (I.44 x I.04m)
7. Calling of St. Matthew (I.44 x I.I4m)
8. St. Jerome and the Lion (I.44 x 2.o8m)
9. Death of St. Jerome (.44 x 2.0o8m)
Io. St. Jerome in His Study (i.44 x 2.o8m)
4. Jacobus de Varagine, The Golden Legend; or Lives of
the Saints, as Englished by William Caxton, London, 900, v,
p. 203; ed. Arrigo Levanti, Pistoia, 1926, III, p. 1242. See also
note 53 below for other accounts of Jerome's life which include
the story.

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scene.5A lion is in the background. In both paintings Jerome has white hair and a long white beard.
Next, and last, appears the scene in question. All three paintings are signed. Present opinion places
the last scene after 1502, the date generally accepted as visible on the death scene in Roman
numerals after the signature.' The three paintings are on framed canvases, having been executed
in tempera, with the added final use of oil.'
If the painting represents Jerome, it would have more naturally been placed before the other
two scenes from his life, since it shows a young or middle-aged person with dark hair and a short
beard. The presence of a dog as a companion in place of the lion could then be explained, since
the lion would have come to the saint at a later time, after his hair had become white.' Originally
the painting could have been placed first in the series' and then have been replaced by mistake in
its present position after being removed from the wall, as in 1551, when the Scuola was rebuilt.'0
Ruskin, however, accepted the present order and interpreted the painting as a supernatural
scene of the saint in Heaven after his death, in divine meditation." Ludwig and Molmenti also
accepted it in their attempted reconstruction of the original order of all the paintings in the
Scuola.'2 While noting the incongruity, they pointed out that there were other such representations, which they assumed to be of Jerome in his oratory, following scenes of his funeral, and
concluded that such placement was traditional and not accidental.'3
Both Carpaccio'spainting and the final scene of the predella furnished as an example by Ludwig
and Molmenti (Fig. 4, of which more will be said below) contain evidence that the person represented is not Jerome. The broad-brimmed cardinal's hat, either worn by Jerome or placed near
him by a tradition fixed in painting by the fifteenth century, is absent in both. Instead, attributes
commonly used to designate bishops or mitered abbots are placed in the paintings. In Carpaccio's,
a miter appears on the central altar, and a crozier leans against it. In the predella scene, a miter
is worn by the seated figure.14
While the absence of the tame lion, usually shown with Jerome in his study, would not in itself
show that the paintings do not represent Jerome, the presence of attributes never assigned to
him during the period would seem to do so.
5. See note 54 below for the literary source of this scene.
6. Giuseppe Fiocco, Carpaccio, Paris, 1931, p. 75; Muraro,
loc.cit.
Ludwig and Molmenti (op.cit., p. i 8) believed that the
last scene could not have been completed until 1505. No substantially different opinion has been advanced. The latest date
ascribed to any painting in the cycle is 1511, the date which
Gaetano Milanesi read on the label of St. George Baptizing
the King, and recorded in his commentary to his edition of
Vasari (op.cit., III, p. 661). Fiocco (op.cit., p. 78) reads it
as 1508.
7. Nolfo di Carpegna ("I1 restauro dei dipinti del Carpaccio
di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni," Arte veneta, I, 1947, pp. 67-68)
establishes in his description of the cycle before and during its
restoration that it had been executed in tempera on canvas, with
the use of oil to complete and fix it.
8. See note 4 above. The lion episode is recounted as taking
place in Jerome's later life, after his experiences in the desert
and removal to Bethlehem.
9. The painting might have been intended for first position
in the series even if it had been painted later than the others.
A later date than 1502, the date of the death scene, is suggested
by Lionello Venturi (Le origini della pittura veneziana,
Venice, 1907, p. 311) who comments that the painting is
superior coloristically and could have been executed some
time after the others in the cycle.
io. According to an inscription on the faqade (Ludwig and
Molmenti, op.cit., p. 115). Although Ludwig and Molmenti
found no records concerning the moving of the paintings, they
concluded that all of them were moved from the upper to the

lower floor at that time, and assembled in a different order.

However, they believed that the three paintings concerning
Jerome were replaced in the original order in relation to each
other (ibid., pp. 117-120).
xx. Ruskin, op.cit., pp. 2z9ff.
122.
12. Ludwig and Molmenti, op.cit., pp. II7-II8,
13. Ibid., p. I22. They furnished one example (their fig.
1 7 and here Fig. 4) which proves to be a part of a predella
now in the London National Gallery (National Gallery Catalogue: Earlier Italian Schools, London, 1953, I, pl. 84). See
note 31 below for the subsequent documentation of this example, which was neither identified nor attributed by Ludwig
and Molmenti.
14. Authorities on iconography uniformly assign the cardinal's hat to Jerome and the miter and crozier to Augustine in
paintings of the period: George Kaftal, Iconography of the
Saints in Tuscan Painting, Florence, 1952, col. 521 (Jerome),
cols. Ioo, Ioi (Augustine); Joseph Braun, Tracht und Attribute der Heiligen in der deutschen Kunst, Stuttgart, 1943,
Heinrich
cols. 328-333 (Jerome), io8-iio
(Augustine);
Detzel, Christliche Ikonographie, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1896,
II, pp. 407-410 (Jerome), pp. 173-176 (Augustine)i Mrs.
Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, London, 1870, I, p. 289
(Jerome), p. 309 (Augustine).
According to Adolfo Venturi (L'Arte a San Girolamo,
Milan, 1924, pp. 9, Io), the representation of Jerome in this
manner was established in the fourteenth century. Although
Venturi found earlier examples representing Jerome as mitered
among the doctors of the church, the miter was subsequently
excluded from his attributes.

ST.

AUGUSTINE

LEGENDS OF ST. JEROME'S POSTHUMOUS

IN

"ST.

MIRACLES,

JEROME'S

STUDY"

AND ILLUSTRATIONS

OF THEM

285
IN PAINTINGS

A group of legends of St. Jerome, described in I908 by Louise Pillion and Herbert P. Horne,"5
and subsequently noted by several authors as sources for some of the fifteenth and sixteenth century illustrations appearing along with scenes from his life," provide a different solution of the
problem. The legends had their origin in three apocryphal letters of the end of the thirteenth
century that were thought to have been written by St. Eusebius of Cremona, St. Augustine, and
St. Cyril of Jerusalem. These letters were appended to manuscripts and books on Jerome from
places widely separated geographically in Europe, including Florence and Venice in Carpaccio's
time."
Appended to works containing such familiar stories from Jerome's life as his dream of punishment by God for being a Ciceronian1"and his aid to the limping lion, the letters provided for
illustration further stories about his last communion, his death, and subsequent miracles. Among
these are accounts of how shortly after his death he miraculously visited others.
The stories of the miraculous visits are not included in the Golden Legend by lacopo da
Varagine, since the letters were not incorporated into it. They are related, however, in abbreviated
form, in another compendium of lives of the saints, written in the fourteenth century and printed
during Carpaccio's period, the Catalogus sanctorum by Petrus de Natalibus."'
The fullest versions of the legends are in such books on Jerome as Hieronymus. Vita et transitus,
Venice, Pasquale and Bertochus, 1485,20 where the lengthy letters by "Eusebius," "Augustine,"
and "Cyril," are fully reproduced."2
"Eusebius," after describing the last communion and death of Jerome in Bethlehem and the
15. Louise Pillion, "La l6gende de Saint J&r6me d'apr6s
quelques peintures italiennes du xve siecle au Musbedu Louvre,"
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 3e s&r., xxxIx, 1908, pp. 306-316;
Herbert P. Horne, Sandro Botticelli, London, 1908, pp. 174177.
i6. Georg Gronau, "Zwei Predellenbilder von Raphael,"
Monatshefte fuir Kunstcwissenschaft, I, 12, 1908, pp. 10711079; J. P. Richter, The Mond Collection, London, 1910, pp.
299-510, fully interpreting a predella by Luca Signorelli noted
by Horne (op.cit., p. 175); Herbert P. Horne, "The Last
Communion of St. Jerome by Sandro Botticelli," Bulletin of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, x, 1915, pp. 52-56, 72-75,
A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana (vii, z, 1913,
I01-105;
pp. 483-484, 8oo-802 on Louvre predella scenes discussed by
Pillion, op.cit., and others by Raphael treated by Gronau,
op.cit.; ibid., vI, 3, 1914, pp. 1073-1078 on some by Francesco Bianchi Ferrari; ibid., vii, 4, 1915, Pp. 382-386 on
paintings by Lazzaro Bastiani) i idem, L'Arte a San Girolamo,
Milan, 1924, pp. 48-50, o105-107 on some of the same paintings; Roger Fry, "The Mond Pictures in the National Gallery," Burlington Magazine, xxxxIv, 1924, p. 240, on the
Signorelli predella; Karl Kinstle, Ikonographie der Heiligen,
Freiburg im Breisgau, 1926, II, p. 305, summarizing examples
known; "Two Paintings by Matteo di Giovanni," Bulletin of
the Art Institute of Chicago, xx, 3, 1926, pp. 30-32 on predella
panels by Matteo di Giovanni; Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogue: The Earlier Italian Schools, London, i951,
pp. 91-94, 378-380 on the Signorelli predella and another by
Francesco Botticini; Kaftal, op.cit., cols. o09, 11, 532, citing
paintings mentioned above and one by Fra Filippo Lippi;
Erwin Panofsky, "A Letter to St. Jerome," Studies in Art and
Literature for Belle da Costa Greene, ed. Dorothy Miner,
Princeton, 1954, p. io6, n. 13, on a French manuscript illustration and the Signorelli predella.
I7. For an account of the works in which the legends appeared and their translators and commentators, see Appendix
I below. I have found, among listings of incunabula printed
between 1475 and 1500, 28 Italian editions that included the
legends. Of these 11 are Venetian.
18. The legend appears, for example, in the English trans-

lation of 1483 of the Golden Legend by William Caxton

and in Petrus de Natalibus, Catalogus
(op.cit., pp. 200-201)
sanctorum, Vicenza, Ca Zeno, 1493 (Huntington Library no.
412o, referred to hereafter as the Vicentine Catalogus sanctorum), fol.
version of the legends of the letters,
237r.
19. The condensed
leaving out much of "Cyril's" but referring to all three authors
at the end of the passage, appears in the Vicentine Catalogus
sanctorum, fols. 237'-238r.
20. Huntington Library no. 3079, referred to below as the
Venetian Hieronymus. The pagination of its unnumbered pages
is my own.
The summaries of the episodes which I have given from
21.
the Venetian Hieronymus correspond to relevant excerpts from
the copies of the letters reproduced in J. P. Migne, Patr.
lat. xxII, cols. 239-326; the fourteenth century German manuscript published by Joseph Klapper ("Schriften Johanns von
Neumarkt," in Konrad Burdach, Vom Mittelalter zur Reformation, VI, 2, Berlin, 1932); La vita et transito et miracoli
del beatissimo hieronymo doctore excellentissimo . . . (including II devoto transito del gloriose sancto Hieronymo), Florence, Buonaccori [Bonacorsi], 1490-1491, referred to hereafter
as the Florentine Hieronymus, partially translated by Herbert
P. Harne, Sandro Botticelli, London, 1908, pp. 175-176 and
Richter, op.cit., pp. 501-509; and Giovanni d'Andrea, Hieronymianus, Basel, i514, passages from which were summarized
and translated by Pillion, op.cit.
For the passage on Jerome's last communion and death, see
Home, op.cit., pp. 175-176; Klapper, op.cit., pp. 18 ff., 209;
Venetian Hieronvymus, fols. 15vff., 7v-I 8r; for the first visit
to Augustine, Richter, pp. 501-503, Pillion, p. 310o, Klapper,
pp. 256-266, and the Venetian Hieronymus, fols. 22r-23r; for
the second visit to Augustine, Richter, pp. 503-506, Pillion,
p. 311, Klapper, pp. 275-283, and the Venetian Hieronymus,
fols. 24r-25r; for the visit to Cyril, Richter, pp. 507-509,
Klapper, pp. 275-276, and the Venetian Hieronymus, fols.
18r-I8'; for the visit to Sulpicius Severus, Richter, pp. 50o6507, Pillion, p. 31o, Klapper, pp. 267-272, and the Venetian
Hieronymus, fols. 23r-24r.

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miraculous phenomena that then took place, recounts that in the "last hour" of the day of
Jerome's death, Cyril, in rapt prayer in his cell, saw in a vision the road leading from Jerome's
convent to the sky. Upon it singing angels converged from opposite directions, each with a taper
whose light was greater than that of the sun. In their midst appeared the soul of Jerome with
Christ on his right hand. The soul of Jerome spoke to Cyril, telling of receiving the glory for
which Jerome had hoped.
"Augustine" describes two separate experiences in Hippo, one in which Jerome's voice was
heard at the end of the day, and another late in the same night, when Jerome appeared with John
the Baptist, who spoke in praise of Jerome. Between these two accounts, he also describes a visit
by Jerome to Sulpicius Severus.
In the first episode, Augustine, in his cell at the hour of compline, was unaware that Jerome's
death had taken place during the same hour in Bethlehem. He had been in contemplation of
the glory and joy of the blessed who rejoice with Christ, since he had been urged to write a
treatise on the subject. He was beginning a letter to Jerome, to seek his opinions, when an unnatural light and fragrance entered the room. Bewildered by these phenomena, he then heard
a voice coming from the light. No vision, other than that of the light, appeared in this episode,
but the speaker identified himself as Jerome. After taking Augustine to task for the ambitious
scope of his contemplations, he informed him that his own soul had left his body in Bethlehem
and was then in splendor in Heaven. He then answered many questions asked by Augustine on
the Trinity, the generation and procession of the Son from the Father, the heavenly hierarchy,
and other subjects.
"Augustine" next relates that Sulpicius Severus, a learned cleric of Tours (not a bishop),
came to him without yet knowing of Augustine's vision, and told him of the following episode.
At the hour of Jerome's death, Severus was conversing with three companions, two of whom were
monks. They heard supernatural music and saw the heavens open. When they prayed God to
interpret the vision, a voice answered them that the soul of Jerome was being met by Christ
and a great company from Heaven enumerated by the speaker, which included the Virgin Mary.
The voice also acknowledged Jerome to be the equal in glory of John the Baptist and the Apostles.
Next there follows a description of the second miraculous visit by Jerome to Augustine a few
hours later, when Augustine, thus informed of Jerome's death, had prepared himself to write a
letter in honor of Jerome. He had meditated upon the task until midnight and had been overcome
by sleep, when he saw two figures in the midst of angels. The fine raiment of the two was differentiated only in that one wore three crowns and the other two. They approached him together,
and the wearer of three crowns addressed him, saying that they had come to help him in his task.
The speaker identified himself as John the Baptist and his companion as Jerome. The Baptist
praised Jerome as his equal, explaining that his own three crowns exceeded Jerome's because he
himself died in martyrdom, while Jerome did not, although he suffered much in life.
The miracles described by "Cyril" are of a different sort, involving Jerome's intervention at
climactic points in stories of catastrophes where his aid was needed after his death.22
Of the four of these legends that have been found illustrated in predellas, two concern Jerome's
aid in combatting heresy. In one story Eusebius, Jerome's former companion at Bethlehem and
the supposed author of the first of the letters, had fasted and prayed for three days when Jerome
miraculously appeared and told him how to perform a miracle as a demonstration to refute the
heretics. Following Jerome's instructions and using the garment which Jerome had worn, Eusebius
resuscitated three dead men in the presence of both Catholics and men of other sects. The other
22. For "Cyril's" stories of the three resuscitated dead, of Silvanus, of the youths rescued from the gallows, and of "Andrea,"

see Klapper,

op.cit.,

pp. 296-306,

340-350,

by Pillion, op.cit., pp. 312-316. They are included in the

Venetian Hieronymus as well (fols. 25V-z6V; 29r-30r, 32v-33yr

381-391,

and 477-480 respectively. The last three are also summarized

40V-41r).

ST.

AUGUSTINE

IN

"ST.

287

STUDY"

JEROME'S

account is of Silvanus, Archbishop of Nazareth, who had offered himself for execution if Jerome
did not give a sign against a heretical work forged as Jerome's. At the final moment Jerome intervened to declare the writings to be false, and the head of Silvanus' opponent, instead of his
own, fell to the ground.
The other two stories illustrated from "Cyril's" letter tell of Jerome's intervention to save
persons condemned, in one case by earthly authority, in the other before God's tribunal. One
account concerns two young pilgrims from Rome on their way to Jerome's tomb who were seized
near Constantinople and were to be put to torture and death when they failed to confess to a murder
of which they were innocent. They called upon Jerome, who prevented their torture from having
effect and finally supported them alive for eight days suspended from the gallows. In the
other story Jerome interceded when one of his deceased devotees, a cardinal priest "Andrea," was
condemned by his divine judges for his former self-indulgence. Jerome requested that Andrea's
soul be returned to his body, and he revived during the preparations for his funeral in Rome.
After Pillion published summaries of these legends in 90o8, the same year in which Horne
translated the portion of the account by "Eusebius" on Jerome's last communion and death, more
paintings which drew upon the same material were found by several authors."' The following
is a summary, by geographical schools and chronology, of those paintings which, as far as I know,
have been identified up to the present time.
The earliest among the Florentine examples is in the background of an altarpiece by Fra
Filippo Lippi, probably dating from about 1440, in the Cathedral of Prato, representing the
Death of Jerome (Figs. 8, 9).24 The main subject seems close to "Eusebius' " account of happenings following Jerome's death,25 where some of those present saw angels and some heard a
voice welcoming Jerome to Heaven, since God, Christ, and angels are shown above. The figure
in the foreground with crutch and bound foot may be seeing angels, or might represent a blind
person who according to "Eusebius" received sight upon touching the dead Jerome, although he
was not described as crippled as well.
In the landscape background to the left is a scene of the Birth of Christ, probably signifying
Bethlehem, where the death of Jerome took place, and where, according to "Eusebius," he asked
to be buried." In the center is the kneeling Jerome, perhaps at the moment when his soul is received
into Heaven. To the right is a scene listed by Kaftal as Jerome's first visit to Augustine,27 by
previous authors as the presentation of the Bible to Pope Damasus (Fig. 9).28 The former seems
more likely. First, the seated figure wears a miter, not a tiara. Next, a supernatural visitation rather
than an earthly event seems indicated by Jerome's floating position. Last, the larger scenes of the
picture are compatible with descriptions included in the same literary source, namely the letters,
as that from which the visit to Augustine is derived.
A predella in the Louvre by a follower of Fra Angelico29 includes the scene of Jerome's first
visit to Augustine. It is a part of a retable representing the Virgin and Child enthroned with six
saints, including Jerome, who stands directly to her right, and John the Baptist, directly to her
23. For references to these authors, see note 16 above and
the following notes to the pictures identified by them.
24. Henriette Mendelsohn, Fra Filippo Lippi, Berlin, 190o9,
pp. 104-10o7 A. Venturi, L'Arte a San Girolamo, Milan, 1924,
pp. 134-136; Robert Oertel, Fra Filippo Lippi, Vienna, 1942,
p. 76i Mary Pittaluga, Filippo Lippi, Florence, 1949, pp.
188-I89; Kaftal, op.cit., col. 532.
25. Florentine Hieronymus, folios 49r-5 v. The copy I have
used is Walters Art Gallery no. H. 237. See also Klapper,
op.cit., pp. 2 10-213.
26. Oertel, op.cit. The Florentine Hieronymus (fol. 43v,
Chapter xviiI) includes a chapter on Jerome's expressed wish
to be buried in the vicinity of Christ's birthplace. See also
Klapper, op.cit., p. i8o.
27. Kaftal, op.cit., col. 529.

28. Mendelsohn,

op.cit.,

loc.cit.
29. Pillion,

op.cit.,

pp.

p. o107; Oertel,
305,

310,

317.

loc.cit.;
The

Pittaluga,
painting

of

which the predella forms a part is Louvre no. 1320 (Pillion,

op.cit., illustration on p. 306) from the Church of San Girolamo in Fiesole. Pillion, in disagreement with previous attributions, assigned the work to an immediate follower of Fra
Angelico. Kaftal cites a verbal attribution by Richard Offner
in agreement with Pillion's (Kaftal, op.cit., col. 533). (Pillion's illustration of the painting is the correct one; Kaftal's
fig. 609 is in error, actually reproducing the same scene by Sano
di Pietro referred to below (note 39). His written references,
however, all correspond to Louvre no. 1320, presently in the
Mus6e de Chartres.)

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left. Scenes of Jerome's dream of judgment for being a Ciceronian and of his death precede that
of his first visit to Augustine (Fig. Io). Augustine is interrupted while writing what Pillion suggested might read "Beatitudo,""30referring to the projected treatise on the happiness of the blessed
in Heaven.
The picture that I have already mentioned in connection with the problem of the position of
Carpaccio's painting and that Molmenti thought was a representation of Jerome in his study,
proves to be from a predella of an altarpiece by Francesco Botticini representing Jerome in
The predella scene in question (Fig. 4) is pre-

Penitence, probably painted about I474-I476."

ceded by scenes representing the treatment of the lion's foot, Jerome's dream of punishment,
and his death. It illustrates Jerome's second visit to Augustine in the presence of John the Baptist,
who holds a scroll inscribed "ECCE A.""'2 As in the Louvre picture, Augustine wears a miter. Among
the saints in the principal painting of the altarpiece are Eusebius and Damasus, identified by
inscriptions in the painting, the author and recipient respectively of the first of the group of the
three letters in which the legends discussed here are to be found.
The most clearly identifiable example among the pictures representing subjects traced to these
legends is a fresco from the life cycle of St. Augustine in the Church of Sant'Agostino in San
Gimignano of 1465, showing the first visit by Jerome to Augustine (Fig. I )." The following
inscription may be seen beneath the painting:
QUEMADMODUM
AUGUSTINUM

HIERONIMUS

DECELESTI

PAULO ANTE

[DEFUTUS]
GLORIA INFORMAVIT

The inscription may be translated, "How Jerome, who had died a little before, informed Augustine of Heavenly Glory."34 The fresco is preceded by one showing Augustine's triumph over
the heretic Fortunatus and followed by a scene of his funeral. No vision is represented, just as
none is described other than that of the light in the text. Since the explanation of the scene was
provided in the inscription, no picture of a vision was necessary to inform the observer what was
occurring. In the scenes of the first visit discussed above (Figs. 8, 9, io), on the other hand, it
was perhaps considered necessary to show who was addressing Augustine, when only the voice
was heard.
Botticelli illustrated a story from the "Eusebius" letter, the Last Communion of St. Jerome,

probablyin the last decade of the fifteenth century.35His fresco St. Augustine in Meditation in
the Ognissanti(Fig. 12) of about 14803"so resemblesthe fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli described
above that one might be temptedto considerit a representationof the subject,were it not for two
facts that discouragethe speculation.First, the fresco has never been consideredpart of a lifecyclebut an independentrepresentationof the saint,correspondingto its companionpiece,Domenico
Ghirlandaio's St. Jerome in His Study.37Second, the inscriptions above both frescoes which identify
30. The word is used for the subject of Augustine's projected treatise in the abbreviated account of Jerome's address
in the Vicentine Catalogus sanctorum, fol. 237v. (See Appendix
II below.)

31. Davies, op.cit., pp. 91-943 illustrated in National Gallery Catalogue: Earlier Italian Schools, London, 1953, I,
pl. 84. The portion of the predella reproduced by Ludwig
and Molmenti (see note 13 above) is the last of its scenes,
showing the Rucellai arms which it bears on both ends. The
altarpiece,

National

Gallery

no.

227,

was

bought

in 1855

from the Ricasoli family in Florence. Davies interprets the

scene as a representation of the second visit to Augustine. The
painting came originally from the Church of the Hermits of
St. Jerome of Fiesole, the provenance also of the Louvre work
of the School of Fra Angelico described above. Davies accepts
the attribution to Botticini, and believes that the painting was
done after 1460, and probably about 1474-1476.
Probably for "Ecce Agnus Dei . .. ," one of the in32.

scriptions carried by John the Baptist (Kaftal,

op.cit., col.

549).
33. Karl Kiinstle, Ikonographie der Heiligen, Freiburg im
Kaftal, op.cit., cols. 103, 1o9, fig. 117.
Breisgau, 1926, p.
DEFVTVS (= DEFUNCTUS)
may be
34. The word iio;_
constructed from the remaining fragments of the letters. For
the appearance of Benozzo's inscriptions, with their contractions, in his other works, see the illustrations in Piero Bargellini, La fiaba pittorica di Benozzo Gozzoli, 2nd ed., Florence,
1947, pp. 61-64.
35. Herbert P. Horne, opera citata, Harry B. Wehle, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art. A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish
and Byzantine Paintings, New York, 1950, pp. 46-47.
36. Heinrich Brockhaus, Forschungen iiber Florentinischer
Kunstvwerke, Leipzig, I902, pp. 101-103; Herbert P. Horne,
Sandro Botticelli, London, 1908, pp. 68-69; Yukio Yashiro,
Sandro Botticelli, Boston and London, 1929, p. 240.
37. Giorgio Vasari, Le vite . . . , III, ed. Milanesi, p. 311,
and authors on Botticelli cited above, note 36.

ST.

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289

the saints represented prove, I believe, to be amusing references to the moving of both pictures
in 1564, and were probably added to them at that time.38 Thus they give no clue to any subject
matter beyond the simplest interpretation: the representations of both saints in characteristic
occupations.
Fragments of Sienese predella scenes have been found to illustrate the legends. The group in
the Louvre by Sano di Pietro, perhaps of 1444, contains episodes culled from the letters:"

the death of Jerome and his first visit to Augustine (Fig. 13) and the announcementof Jerome's
death to SulpiciusSeverus (shown with only one companion)and the second visit to Augustine
(Fig. I4).
Another known Sienese example is one of the two predella panels of similar size by Matteo di
Giovanni of about 1470-1480 in the Ryerson Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago (Fig.
15),40 illustrating Augustine's second visit by Jerome in fine detail: the two and three tiers of
the crowns are clearly distinguished, and some writing was probably once legible on the scroll
upon which Augustine writes, since one line appears in larger writing than the rest. The Ryerson
Collection's other panel shows Jerome's dream of flagellation for being a Ciceronian.
The legends appear in Umbrian predellas as well. Two more of Pillion's examples in the
Louvre, ascribed by Venturi to Perugino, represent the revived cardinal priest "Andrea," and the
38. The inscriptions above both frescoes are provided by
Brockhaus, op.cit., pp. o101-10o3 and Horne, op.cit., pp. 68-69,
but neither was translated nor fully interpreted, perhaps because it is difficult to find a meaning for their face value:
(over Botticelli's:)
SIC AUGUSTINUS
MUTATUM

SACRIS SE TRADIDIT

SIBI ADHUC

UT NON

SENSERIT ESSE LOCUM

(over Ghirlandaio's:)
NE TIBI QUID PICTO, HIERONYME SANCTO, DEESSET
EST NUPER, MIRUM, MOTUS AB ARTE DATUS

The frescoes were moved to their present location in 1564,

according to Vasari (op.cit., III, pp. 258-259, 311), who in
describing the moving of Botticelli's uses the words "Questa
pittura come si e detto nella Vita del Ghirlandaio, quest'anno
1564 e stata mutata dal luogo suo salva ed intiera." He described the process (op.cit., pp. 258-259) in discussing Ghirlandaio's. Both were fastened with chains and transported
within the church. If the inscriptions may be translated thus:
"Augustine has devoted himself so completely to sacred
studies, that he is still not aware that his location has been
changed," and
"St. Jerome, so that nothing would be lacking to you as
was given
to behold-motion
painted, recently-wonder
by Art,"
then both inscriptions may refer to the moving, the "Art" in
the second inscription referring not to painterly art, but to
craftsmanship in the difficult task of the moving. The inscription over Ghirlandaio's painting has been altered since the recordings by Brockhaus and Horne and since Alinari photo
4116 was taken. It now reads, in a different script:
REDDE
SINE

NOS CLAROS LAMPAS

QUA TERRA TOTA

RADIOSA

EST UMBROSA

Probably these lines are from an old hymn to Jerome (Joseph

Klapper, "Aus der Friihzeit des Humanismus," Festschrift
zum 70. Geburtstage von Max Koch, Breslau, 1926, p. 264,
lines

21-22).

39. The group of predella fragments is numbered 11281 32 in the Louvre (Georges Lafenestre and Eugene Richtenberger, Le Musie National du Louvre, Paris, 1907, p. 161).
They came from the Rinuccini Collection of Florence. The
attribution to Sano di Pietro was accepted by Pillion and by
J6rg Triibner (Die stilistische Entwicklung der Tafelbilder des
Sano di Pietro, Strasbourg, 1925, p. 8), who believes the group
to have been a part of the signed and dated polyptych of 1444,
no. 246, in the Pinacoteca of Siena, originally from the Gesuati
cloister of San Girolamo in Siena (Cesare Brandi, Quattro-

centisti senesi, Milan, I949, p. 256, pl. ii i idem, La Regia

Pinacoteca di Siena, Rome, 1933, p. 258). It represents the
Madonna and Child with Saints, among whom are Jerome
and Augustine. Augustine in this painting, according to
Triibner (op.cit., pp. 7, 92 n. 25) stands holding an open book
on which one can read a sentence of the letter in honor of St.
Jerome. Kaftal (op.cit., col. ioi) provides this inscription:
"Sanctus leronymus presbiter greco latino et hebraico eloqui
eruditus cuius nobilis eloquium ab oriente usque in occidentem
instar solis lampas resplenditur."
The subjects of the last two panels were elucidated by Pillion
The stories shown in all five fragments
(op.cit., pp. 309-311).
are: i) Jerome's Dream, during a nearly fatal illness, in which
he was held in judgment and flagellated for being a Ciceronian;
2)
Jerome in Penitence in the Desert; 3) Jerome Treating the
Lion's Foot, and the lion bringing back an ass which had been
stolen; 4) the Death of Jerome and his First Visit to Augustine; 5) the Announcement of Jerome's Death to Sulpicius
Severus and Jerome's Second Visit to Augustine.
(As mentioned above in note 29, Kaftal's reproduction of the
predella scene of Jerome's first visit to Augustine, op.cit., fig.
609, is numbered by error to refer to his listing of the same
episode from another predella, that of the School of Fra
Angelico, Louvre no. 1320, described above.)
4o. Kaftal, op.cit., col. 529, fig. 612; Bulletin of the Art
Institute of Chicago, 1926, 3, PP. 30-32. The panels came
from the collection of Lord Brownlow at Ashridge Park,
Berkhampstead, where they were noted by B. Berenson, The
Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance, New York and
London, 1909, p. 194 as "Two Episodes from the Life of St.
James." G. F. Hartlaub (Matteo da Siena und seine Zeit,
Strasbourg, 19I0, p. 1 7) believed that they probably had
been a part of Matteo di Giovanni's St. Jerome in His Study
in the Fogg Museum, dated by an inscription which has been
read as 1482 and 1492 (Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1926, 3, P. 32). Lionello Venturi (Italian Paintings in
America, New York and Milan, 1933, II, pl. 296 and its incorporated text) disagrees with this theory of the connection
between the three paintings, although he believes that the two
smaller ones belonged to the same predella. Marialuisa Gengaro
("Matteo di Giovanni," La Diana, Ix, 1934, pp. 166-167)
dates the panels between 1470 and 1480.
The scenes are identified by the Art Institute (op.cit. pp.
31-32) as Jerome's Dream of Punishment for Being a Ciceronian and Augustine's Vision of Jerome and John the Baptist.

290

THE

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two devotees of Jerome saved by him from death at the gallows."' Predella fragments by Raphael
in Richmond and Lisbon illustrate scenes of the rescue of Silvanus and the resuscitation of the
three dead men by Eusebius.42 Another by Signorelli in the National Gallery in London contains
three of Jerome's posthumous visits (Figs. 16, 17) flanking a central scene showing Esther before
Ahasuerus."'The first visit to Augustine, which included no specific vision, is omitted. The three
episodes are identifiable by the differentiated visions which came in each. This is the only example
of which I know that includes the visit to Cyril. It is also the only one of the pictures discussed
here in which Augustine is not provided with his miter. Cyril lacks his as well.
An Emilian example occurs in a predella in Modena by Francesco Bianchi Ferrari, including
among scenes from Jerome's life the episode of the resuscitation by Eusebius of the three dead
men narrated in the "Cyril" letter."'
Three Venetian paintings of larger size illustrated legends from the letters, two antedating
Carpaccio's cycle, and one following it by half a century.
Of two paintings of scenes from the life of Jerome by Lazzaro Bastiani in the Academy in Venice,
one represents the last communion of Jerome."4
A painting of Jerome appearing to Augustine by Giovanni Mansueti and presently in The
Hague (Fig. 18) apparently illustrates the first visit."4The seated ecclesiastic, his miter nearby,
is interrupted when about to write on a sheet placed upon an open book, probably the projected
letter to Jerome resting upon the treatise. Jerome, in a red robe, is shown in a radiance but unaccompanied by John the Baptist.
A lost painting of one of Jerome's visits to Augustine, probably the first since he alone is mentioned, is recorded as appearing in a life cycle of Jerome in the Scuola di San Fantino (or San
Girolamo), presently the Ateneo Veneto."7The painting was among eight scenes by Palma the
41. Pillion, op.cit., pp. 314-316, illustrations on pp. 313,
315i A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, vii, 2, I913, PP.
483-484, figs. 365, 366; idem, L'Arte a San Girolamo, Milan,
1924, p. 176, figs. 141, 142.
42. A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, viI, 2, I913, pp.
8oo-8o02, figs. 6o8, 609; idem, L'Arte a San Girolamo, Milan,
1924, pp. 250-252; Karl Kiinstle, Ikonographie der Heiligen,
Freiburg im Breigau, 1926, II, p. 3053 B. Berenson, Italian
Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford, 1932, p. 482 (Cook Collection no. 67), 480 (Lisbon). Berenson lists both as dated
1503.
43. Herbert P. Horne, Sandro Botticelli, London, 1908, p.
Kaftal, op.cit.,
175; Richter, op.cit., pp. 498-499, 503-509;
col. 529. The predella is now no. 3946 in the National Gallery in London. Richter was of the opinion, accepted by Davies
(op.cit., p. 379), that it had originally accompanied an altarpiece commissioned for the Compagnia di San Girolamo at
Arezzo finished by 1522. The altarpiece, now in the Gallery
of Arezzo, has as its main subject the Virgin and Child with
Saints and God the Father, with Jerome in the place of
prominence to the right of the Virgin.
44. The predella is a part of an altarpiece in the church
of San Pietro di Modena commissioned by the Sassi family
(A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, Milan, viI, 3, 1914, p.
1070, figs. 806-809; idem, L'Arte a San Girolamo, Milan,
1924, p. Io8, figs. 80-82; Kiinstle, op.cit. The principal subject
of the altarpiece is the Madonna Enthroned between SS. Jerome
and Sebastian.
The predella includes six scenes: i) Jerome's Dream
of Judgment for Being a Ciceronian; z) Jerome in His Study;
3) Jerome Curing the Lion 4) The Lion Bringing Back the
Ass; 5) Jerome Pardoning the Guilty Merchants; 6) Eusebius
Raising Three Dead Men.
45. The two paintings represent Jerome's last communion
and his funeral (Sandra Moschini Marconi, Gallerie dell'

A ccademia di Venezia, opere d'arte dei secoli xiv e xv, Rome,

1955,
PP. 52, 53, pls. 51, 52). They were once ascribed to
Carpaccio (Carlo Ridolfi, Le maraviglie dell'Arte, ed. Hadeln,
Berlin, 1914, p. 45).
46. Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance,
Venetian School, London, 1957, I, p. 109, II, pl. 375. Berenson
lists the painting as Jerome Appearing to Augustine by Giovanni Mansueti. It is presently no. NK. 2818 in the Ministry
of Culture in The Hague, where it is entitled "Life of St.
Augustine." I should like to thank Mr. J. G. Berkhout of the
Ministry of Culture for their reproduction and permission to
publish it here, and for the following information about the
painting. The picture has at one time been assigned to Carpaccio, is 97 x 137 cm, and is on canvas.
47. Listed in the reprint available to me of G. A. Moschini,
Guida per la cittahdi Venezia, Venice, 1815 (L'Abb6 Moschini,
Itineraire de la ville de Venise, Venice, I819, p. 153) as follows: St. Jerome, i) Elected Cardinal, 2) Flogged because
He Read Cicero, 3) Appearing to St. Augustine, 4) Dying,
from the merchants who had
5) Receiving Gifts-probably
stolen the ass, 6) Engaged in Study, 7) Curing the Lion,
8) Attending the Building of His Monastery. According to
Moschini they were by Palma (the Younger). The ceiling
painted by him below which they were placed dated from
about 1580-1582
(Raffaello Borghini, II Riposo, Florence,
1584, p. 561i A. M. Zanetti, Descrizione di tutte le pubbliche pitture di Venezia, Venice, 1733, p. i80). According
to Giuseppe Pavanello ("La Scuola di San Fantin, ora Ateneo,"
Ateneo Veneto, Rivista bimestrale di scienza, lettere ed arti,
ann. xxxvii, vol. 1, fasc. i, July-August 1914, pp. 5-Ioo),
provides the history of the edifice, also once known as the
Scuola di San Girolamo (op.cit., p. 9). He cites records that
the paintings left the Scuola in 1840 or 1841 (op.cit., pp. 76,
85, 98). Their whereabouts were unknown at his time of writing, and as far as I know they still have not been located.

ST.

AUGUSTINE

IN

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291

Younger, among which were the subjects of the first two paintings of Carpaccio'scycle and
Jerome's last communion.
Although it would be of considerableinterestto find illustrationsof the scenesincorporatedin
the manuscripts and books including the legends, I know so far of only one, found by Panofsky

in a French manuscriptof about 1460-1480 in the Walters Art Gallery (Fig. I9)." The picture
follows its text which relates the first visit. The salutation written by Augustine, transcribed

"IheronimopresbyteroAugustinussalutem"by Panofsky, is the beginningof the letter in which

he sought Jerome's opinion on the treatise.As in the case of the predellas describedabove, the
speakerwhose voice issued from the light is shown as he was imagined by the illustrator."
CARPACCIO'S PAINTING

AS AN ILLUSTRATION

OF THE FIRST VISIT TO AUGUSTINE

Thus the legendary material of the letters was not only widely printed, still bearing the names
of the supposed authors,50but had become part of the repertory used for Italian pictures of Jerome's
life," including larger Venetian paintings, from the fifteenth century on into the sixteenth. Their
falsity probably became recognized gradually from the time of Erasmus' work on Jerome in the
second decade of the sixteenth century, although the earliest statement I have found condemning
them is of 1570.52
Therefore the group of legends offers a plausible solution for the problem of the position and
subject of Carpaccio'sstudy scene. If its position is accepted as the original one, and if it is a part
of a life cycle of Jerome, then it must represent a posthumous event, since it follows the death
scene. The story of Carpaccio's first painting, the encounter with the lion, is in both Venetian
editions to which I have referred as including the letters, the longer Hieronymus. Vita et transitus,
and the shorter section on Jerome in the Catalogus Sanctorum." The subject of his second painting,
the death scene, corresponds to "Eusebius' " account of Jerome's aspect when he died: his emaciated
body is covered by a simple garment, and his arms are crossed upon his breast. This account in
"Eusebius' " letter is, again, in both the Venetian editions which include the letters and the story
of Jerome and the lion." No death or funeral scene is described in the Golden Legend, on the other
48. Erwin Panofsky, "A Letter to Saint Jerome: A Note
on the Relationship between Petrus Christus and Jan van
Eyck," Studies in Art and Literature for Belle da Costa Greene,
ed. Dorothy Miner, Princeton, 1954, p. io6, fig. 50.
49. The manuscript, Walters Art Gallery no. 304, consists
of the three letters by "Eusebius, Augustine, and Cyril," without any preceding vita. However, among its three illustrations
are pictures of Jerome and the lion and Jerome in penitence
(fols. 3r and 7or). The third illumination, on the first page
of "Augustine's" letter (fol. 59r) is followed by the text
which includes both the first (fols. 6Iv-64v) and the second
(fols. 66v-68r) visits by Jerome to Augustine. Panofsky (op.cit.,
p. io6 n. 13), knowing of the Signorelli predella (in which
the first scene does not appear but the second one does), assumed that the illustration was of the second visit. He therefore concluded (op.cit., p. io6 n. 13, col. 2) that the illustration did not follow the text. If, on the other hand, the
picture be interpreted as the first visit, it follows the text more
closely. The single figure appearing to Augustine may, as in the
predellas described above, be understood as the illustrator's
rendition of the supernatural speaker whose voice is issuing
from the light (fols. 6 1v-64v). The Walters Art Gallery manuscript does not differ from the others described above in this
passage: no vision is described other than that of the light
from which the voice speaks. The illustration follows the text
relating the first visit except that the speaker appears in person
and is represented in the guise of a small child wearing a
cardinal's hat.

5o. Even in the abbreviated version of the legends in the

Catalogus sanctorum, reference is made to the supposed authors
by whom they had been related (Vicentine Catalogus sanctorum, fol.
that Giovanni d'Andrea Bolognese, who in238r)?
51. The fact
cluded the letters in his Hieronymianus of the fourteenth
century, stated that he told the painters to represent Jerome in
individual images (see note 83 below) in the way in which
he was in fact represented thereafter, in a Cardinal's hat and
accompanied by the lion, suggests that the letters themselves
became accepted at the same time as authoritative subject matter for life cycles of Jerome.
52. See note 95 below.
53. Venetian Hieronymus (fol. 3v); Vicentine Catalogus
sanctorum (folio 237v), also printed in Venice (see note 87
below).
54. The death scene, also included in the Venetian Hieronymus (fols.
7v-i 8r) and the Vicentine Catalogus Sanctorum
as well (fol. 347v), is in "Eusebius' " letter, and hence not
in the Golden Legend, but in other texts of the letters (KlapHerbert P. Horne, Sandro Botticelli,
per, op.cit., p. 209;
London, 1908, pp. 175-176; Pillion, op.cit., pp. 308-309,
translating their respective sources). In other passages (Klapper, op.cit., pp. 44-45, z220zo;Walters Art Gallery Ms 304, fols.
Ior-1ov; Venetian Hieronymus, fol. i8') "Eusebius" described
Jerome's emaciated condition and the simple garment with
which the monks covered his body.

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hand, which simply relates the year of Jerome's death." Next, then, in Carpaccio's cycle would
be expected one of the posthumous events.
Of all the posthumous scenes related in the letters only one, that of the first visit to Augustine,
as will be seen, exactly fits the action of the painting and is compatible with those of its details
which might identify and characterize the occupant of Carpaccio'sstudy.
The passage describing the first visit, as translated from the Venetian edition of 1485, is as
follows:5
But in order that the merits of the most holy Jerome may not lie hidden, I will relate what happened to
me, divine grace allowing it, on the very day of his death. Indeed, at the same day and hour when, having
divested himself of foul and impure fleshly garment, most holy Jerome put on his garment of perpetual
immortality and of inestimable joy and glory, I was resting in my cell in Hippo, eagerly considering how
much glory and joy the souls of the blessed have who rejoice with Christ, then desiring to compose a brief
treatiseon this subject, compelled by the entreaties of our Severus, formerly student of the venerable Martin
of Tours, and having taken in hand paper, pen, writing tablets, I wished to write a brief letter addressedto
the most holy Jerome, in order that he should answer what he felt about it. Indeed, I knew of no one living
who could more clearly instruct me in such a difficult question. Just as I was writing, beforehand, the beginning salutationto Jerome, suddenly an indescribablelight, not seen in our times, and hardly to be described
in our poor language, entered the cell in which I was, with an ineffable and unknown fragrance, of all odors,
at the hour of compline.57When I saw this, moved by amazement and admiration, I suddenly lost strength
of my limbs. Truly I did not know then that the right hand of marvellous God had raisedhis servant, making
known his virtues to the peoples; and indeed I did not know that God of ancient mercy had loosed His
faithful servant from impure flesh and preparedso sublime a seat for him in Heaven; I did not know, surely,
the unsearchableways of God; I did not know God's treasuresof infinite wisdom; I did not know the secret
and hidden decisionsof God; since those whom He wishes He makes come to His presence in His unutterable
wisdom. Moreover those He calls, predestines,justifies, and blesses, according as He has decreed. Thus since
my eyes had never beheld such light, nor had I smelled such an odor, I was struck senseless by such new,
unheard-of wonders. But as I was wildly trying to determine what this was, a voice broke forth from the
light, saying these words:
"Augustine, Augustine, what are you seeking? Do you think that you can put the whole sea in a little
vase? Enclose the world in a small fist? Make fast the heavens so that they may not keep going in their accustomed motion? Will your eye see what the eye of no man can see? Your ear hear what is received by no ear
through sound? Do you think you can understand what no human heart has understood, nor even considered? What will be the end to an infinite thing? By what measure will you measure the immense? Sooner
would the whole sea be shut in a very restrictedvessel, sooner would a small fist hold the globe of the earth,
sooner would the heavens cease from continuous motion, than you could understanda small part of the glory
which the souls of the blessed possesswithout end, unless you have learned from experience, as I have. To
speakbriefly:Do not attempt to do impossiblethings until the course of your life is fulfilled. Do not seek them
here or elsewhere, except where they can be found so quickly and happily. Here be content to perform such
works that later, there, whence none who enter come out, you may completely have in eternity what you
seek here to understandin some degree."

The message is more cogently put in the briefer description of the Catalogus sanctorum:
"... a voice sounded from the light, which declared him to be guilty of too great presumption,
that he, while in mortal flesh, should have thought of understanding eternal happiness, which

would be possible for no mortal at all.""'

The scene in Carpaccio's painting (Fig. 3) corresponds with the text. The person represented
55. Iacopo da Varagine, Leggenda aurea, ed. Arrigo Levanti,
Pistoia, 1926, III, p. I246; Jacobi a Voragine, Legenda aurea,
ed. Th. Graesse, Leipzig, 1850, p. 658; Jacobus de Varagine,
The Golden Legend; or Lives of the Saints, as Englished by
William Caxton, London, 1900, v, p. zo8. I have found no
mention of texts in which the legends of Jerome's death to
be found in the letters appeared without their being ascribed
to the letters themselves.
56. Venetian Hieronymus, fols. 22r-22y, transcribed in Ap-

pendix II, below;

op.cit.,

xxI,

Klapper, op.cit., pp. 255-261i

Migne,

col. 284.

57. The words "hora completorii" in the text identify the

time of day. They refer to the last canonical hour, compline
(Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary,
Oxford,

1945,

p. 390).

Since it is toward

evening,

a strong

light would seem all the more miraculous.

58. Vicentine Catalogus sanctorum, fol. 237v. See transcription in Appendix II below.

ST.

AUGUSTINE

IN "ST.

293
STUDY"
JEROME'S
is in the attitude of attentivenessat a surprisinginterruption.He turns toward the source of
the strong light that enters the painting.He has been writing upon a separatepiece of paper laid
on an open book. Perhapsit representsthe letter he has begun to Jerome, resting on the book to
be filled with the treatise.
The little dog looks alertly in the same direction."In the preparatorydrawingfor the painting
in the British Museum (Fig. 2o),60 the master'sattentionseems divided. He turns toward the
window while glancing backin the directionof the animal, as if it has alerted him to a strange
circumstance.
The major role of the light in the paintinghas been noted by several authorseven without any
relationshipto textual illustration.6' The compositionalpredominanceof the sharp-edgedshadows
calls to mind most strongly Carpaccio'sDream of St. Ursula, where a supernaturallight enters
with the angel from a door to the right.62
The stories of apparitionsto SulpiciusSeverus, Cyril, Eusebius (before his resuscitationof the
three dead men), and of the second visit to Augustinenow seem comparativelyinappropriateas
the sourcefor Carpaccio'spainting.Cyril and Eusebius,although entitled to the miter in the back
of the room,63were not describedas writing when their visions appeared.Furthermore,the first
visit to Augustineis the only episodein which no vision is describedin the texts, but only a voice
coming from the light.
In supportof the correspondencebetweenthe actionof Carpaccio'spaintingand the event describedin the text, several details characterizingCarpaccio'sscholarconfirmhis reidentificationas
Augustine, as well as being compatiblewith the story thought to have been told by him.
The shell, which seems to form a part of a cluster of attributeswith the significantmiter and
crozier (Fig. 5),64 had becomeassociatedwith Augustinethrougha legend with a messagesimilar
to that of the text discussedhere.65The story has often been noted as illustratedamong pictures
of Augustinefrom the period.66It tells of a supernaturalapparitionto Augustine,while he was
59. Professor Erwin Panofsky suggested to me in his helpful response of August 16, 1957, to my enquiries in connection
with this scene, that animals were credited during the period
with superior awareness of the supernatural, as they had been
in far earlier times (Numbers 22: 23ff., the story of Balaam's
ass). He provided an example in the Annunciation to the
Shepherds in the Grandes Heures de Rohan (Paris, Bibliothique
Nationale, MS lat. 9471). Another example, among Carpaccio's
paintings, might be in his St. Ursula's Dream in the Academy
in Venice (Fiocco, op.cit., pl. 42) and the preparatory drawing for it in the Uffizi in Florence (ibid., pl. 44). The dog's
head is raised as the angel enters.
6o. A. E. Popham, "Drawing by Vittore Carpaccio," British
Museum Quarterly, IX, 3, 1934-1935, pp. 83-84, pl. 22;
Hans Tietze and E. Tietze-Conrat, The Drawings of the
Venetian Painters in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries,
New York, 1944, p. I53, no. 617, pl. 21, I; A. E. Popharn
and Philip Pouncey, Italian Drawings in the Department of
Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. The Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Centuries, London, I950, p. 22, no. 35. The
drawing is British Museum no. 1924-12-8-I.
61. Adolfo Venturi, L'Arte a San Girolamo, Milan, 1924,
p. 54; Guido Perocco, Guide de l'tcole St.-Georges des
Esclavons, Venice, 1952, p. 19; Ruskin, op.cit., pp. 129, 130.
62. Fiocco, op.cit., pls. 42, 44.
63. A miter would be expected in a painting of Cyril as
Bishop of Jerusalem.
The story in which Jerome visits Eusebius is to be found
in the "Cyril" letter (Klapper, op.cit., pp. 298-306i Venetian
Hieronymus, fols. 25V-26V). Since Eusebius was an abbot in
Bethlehem, the miter and crozier in Carpaccio's paintings
might not be completely inappropriate if the seated man were
Eusebius. On the attributes of abbots, see Kaftal, op.cit., p.
xxii. Eusebius, however (ibid., col. 356), was represented in
Tuscan painting simply as a monk. In the altarpiece by Bot-

ticini referred to above, which includes the predella scenes

of Jerome, he has neither miter nor crozier (ibid., fig. 348).
was a priest and a writer,
Sulpicius Severus (360-420/25)
but not a bishop. In "Augustine's" letter he is referred to as
"nostri Severi, quondam venerabilis Martini episcopi Turonensis discipuli," and a little later as "Supradictus noster Severus,
vir doctrina et sapiencia pollens . . ." (Klapper, op.cit., pp.
256, 267; Venetian Hieronymus, fols. 22v, 23v).
64. There is no reason to suppose that Venetian iconographical tradition concerning the miter and crozier departed
from that of art elsewhere. The miter and crozier are Augustine's attributes in Giovanni Bellini's SS. Jerome, Christopher,
and Augustine of 1513 in the Church of San Giovanni
Crisostomo in Venice (A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana,
Milan, 1914, vII, 4, P. 368, fig. 222). Carpaccio also used
them for his St. Augustine in the retable representing St.
Thomas Enthroned between Two Saints, Gemaildegalerie,
Stuttgart (Fiocco, op.cit., pp. 48, 81, pl. I5o).
65. Professor Panofsky also suggested to me (note 59 above)
the possible reference of the shell in the painting. This legend,
included in Petrus de Natalibus, Catalogus sanctorum, lib. vii,
is transcribed in
cap. 128 (Vicentine edition, fols. 205'2-o6r)
Acta sanctorum, Paris and Rome, 1868, Aug. vi, p. 357. The
Catalogus sanctorum, as noted above, also included in abbreviated form the legends of the "Eusebius," "Augustine,"
and "Cyril" letters.
According to the story as it appears in the Golden Legend
(tr. Caxton, v, p. 66) the child used a spoon, which replaces
the shell in several painted illustrations.
Ludwig and Molmenti (op.cit., p. 132) noted that the
shell was an implement used by copyists for smoothing
erasures on parchment. I have not encountered another example in study scenes of the period.
66. The episode was represented in Renaissance painting in
Italy and Northern Europe. Kaftal (op.cit., col. I04, figs. I IO,

294

THE

ART

BULLETIN

planning his work on the Trinity during a walk by the seaside, of a mysterious child who was
trying to empty the sea into a hole, or ditch, with a shell. When Augustine commented that his
task was impossible, the child answered that it was as possible as was Augustine's explanation of
the mysteries of the Trinity. He likened the hole to a book, the sea to the Trinity, and the shell
to the understanding of Augustine. The last of the three analogies ("assimilans foveam codici,
mare Trinitati, cochleam intellectui Augustini""') provides a symbolic significance for the shell.
The similarity between the child's message and Jerome's as given above is striking.
If the shell, which in its practical use was an instrument for smoothing erasures on parchment,
also carries a literary allusion to Augustine's intellect and the hopelessness of his self-imposed
tasks, then other objects in the room may have symbolic significance of this sort, despite Carpaccio's
well-known predilection for drawing from life. Most suggestive of speculation are the niche and
altar, decorated respectively with a cherub and a statue of the Risen Christ. According to "Augustine," Jerome continued to speak to him after delivering the address quoted above, answering
Augustine's questions on the Trinity, the generation and procession of the Son from the Father,
and the heavenly hierarchy."6Thus the statue and the decoration of the niche, so close to the
shell, could signify the subjects with which the intellect of Augustine was attempting to deal.
The presence of music (Fig. 7) is particularly appropriate to a representation of Augustine.
He would have been regarded as an authority on music (his De musica had already been published
in Venice),69 and one of the legends then current among stories of his life was the account of his
composing and singing a Te Deum with St. Ambrose when that saint was baptizing him.70 Augustine's Confessions include a chapter on his love of music, and the chapter is referred to in the
Golden Legend.7
The two pieces of music on the floor and on the stand72are discussed by Dr. Edward Lowinsky
below." The closed book with an elaborate cover erect on the table near the seated figure may
also be a music book: similar ones, open and closed, appear among the angel-musicians of Carpaccio's
altarpiece of the Madonna Enthroned in the Cathedral of Capodistria dated 1516."
Other details, while they do not characterize Augustine individually, are suitable to his important position both in his priestly and his scholarly functions, while being compatible with the
representation of a bishop.
His elevated degree in his role of functioning priest is emphasized by the presence of the miter
and crozier at the altar equipped for the administering of the Eucharist (Fig. 5). Furthermore, the
position of the chair and pulpit-like stand on a little dais to the left of the altar is the traditional
one of the cathedra. The object on the shelf on the left wall which resembles a bell (Fig. 6) may
be a bishop's candle.
Details in the area where the ecclesiasticsits, in the role of scholar apart from his priestly function,
1 14)
gives one example by Benozzo Gozzoli from the same
life cycle in San Gimignano which includes the scene of the
first visit to Augustine described above, and one by Botticelli,
also illustrated in Yukio Yashiro, Sandro Botticelli, Boston
and London, 1929, plate between pp. io6 and 107. A version
by Fra Filippo Lippi is given by Salomon Reinach, "La vision
de Saint Augustin," Gazette des Beaux Arts, 6e ser., I, 1929,
illustration and reference, p. 258. Kiinstle (op.cit., p. xo8,
fig. 41) reproduces a scene by Michael Pacher of St. Augustine in his Study which shows the child on the floor below
him, a shell-like spoon in his hand. Among other examples
are a Flemish version (G. J. Hoogewerff, "Een belangrijk
schilderstak uit de Brugsche School te Jeruzalem," Onze
Kunst, xxxxvI, 1929, pp. 196, 197 and plates between) and
one by Rubens (K. Smits, "Rond St. Augustinus' beeltenis,"
Miscellanea Augustiniana, Rotterdam, 1930, p. 2o6, fig. 17).
67. Vicentine Catalogus sanctorum, fol. 2zo6ri see note 65
above.

68. Klapper, op.cit., pp. 265-266; Venetian Hieronymus,

fol. 23r; Vicentine Catalogus sanctorum, fol. 237'.
69. Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, Leipzig, 1925, III,
col. 75, no. 2866, lists an example as included in Augustinus,
Opuscula, Venice, Dionysius Bertochus, 1491. The Vicentine
Catalogus sanctorum lists De musica among Augustine's works
(fols. 206r-206V).
7o. Golden Legend, tr. Caxton, v, p. 51; Vicentine Catalogus sanctorum, fol. 205v.
71. Golden Legend, tr. Caxton, v, pp. 56-573 the Confessions, tr. Albert C. Outler, The Library of Christian Classics,
Philadelphia, 1955 (PP. 230-231), includes a chapter on
Augustine's love of music.
72. Both pieces were transcribed by Ludwig and Molmenti,
op.cit., pp. 127-130. See p. 298 below.
73. See Dr. Lowinsky's Epilogue to this article.
74. Fiocco, op.cit., p. 84, pl. 175.

ST.

AUGUSTINE

IN

"ST.

JEROME'S

STUDY"

295

are also compatible with Augustine's elevated authority: the dais upon which he is seated, the
two seals attached to packets on the dais (seals of vesica shape used by prelates), and the costume
worn by the scholar. The cape, a mozzetta, was worn in combination with the white garment, a
rochet, by bishops among other prelates."7The red color of the cassock beneath, now commonly
associated with the cardinalate, was then worn as well by lesser officials, including bishops.76 (Augustine, as far as I know, was not represented in art of the period as a cardinal bishop.)
The amount of emphasis placed on scholastic activity and the elegant elaboration of the
equipment of Renaissance theologians and scholars is such that the room is, needless to say, appropriate for Augustine. Above the saint's writing table is a celestial sphere. Hanging in a row
over the cupboard door are several astrolabes. Within the cupboard is a table with a lectern.
Perhaps the slender, pointed, slightly oval objects vertically arranged on both shelves are pens,
referring to Augustine's many writings, since they resemble the one in the saint's hand. The
scissors, so prominently placed on the saint's writing table, may have a special significance, symbolic
of the interpretation of the Scriptures by the Doctors of the Church." The fragments of legible
exposed writing on books in the room are unfortunately too incomplete, though they may not
always have been, to be of more than speculative significance."
The presence of surprisingly secular objects in the room, the statuettes of the horse and what
appears to be a Venus on the shelf of the left wall, both resembling the remains of pagan antiquity,
and the prominent sheet of music on the floor to the right, now established by Dr. Lowinsky as
secular music, may seem at first glance inappropriate for Augustine's oratory. Yet when we consider the message being delivered by Jerome, that Augustine should concern himself more with
deeds that will result in his future joys in Heaven than speculation about the nature of the happiness
75. In attempting to identify the articles of dress I have
relied upon Egerton Beck, "Ecclesiastical Dress in Art," Burlington Magazine, vii, 1905, pp. 281-288, 373-376, 446-448i
pp. 47-50, 197-202, 271-281 and John A.
viII, 1905-19o6,
Nainfa, Costume of Prelates of the Catholic Church, Baltimore,
1926. The cape has been described variously as brown (Ruskin,
op.cit., p. 13o) and black (Wilhelm Hausenstein, Das Werk
des Vittore Carpaccio, Berlin and Leipzig, 1925, p. Ix ). It
presently appears dark brown, probably because the strong
light is represented as modifying the color of a black cape.
76. Beck (op.cit., vii, 285-288, 373-374) is emphatic on
the point that red is not to be associated only with cardinals in
the church dress of the period, and provides several instances
of its use by bishops.
77. Scissors are prominent also in Diirer's engraving of St.
Jerome in His Study of 1514 (Erwin Panofsky, The Life and
Art of Albrecht Diirer, Princeton, 1943, II, pl. 20o8) and
Ghirlandaio's St. Jerome in His Study (Van Marle, op.cit.,
xIII, fig. Io). Aside from their place in writers' equipment,
they were in at least one instance given a symbolic meaning in
connection with use of them in the Church. The thirteenth
century Bishop of Mende, Gulielmus Durantis, in his Rationale
Divinorum Officiorum, included the following symbolism:
"The snuffers or scissors for trimming the lamps are the divine
words by which men amputate the legal titles of the law, and
reveal the shining spirit, according to that saying, 'Ye shall
eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new' "
(William Durandus, The Symbolism of Churches and Church
Ornaments, tr. John M. Neale and Benjamin Webb, London,
19o6, p. 54). If this interpretation had been a part of general
Church symbolism, the scissors could conceivably refer to the
exegetical function of both Jerome and Augustine.
78. According to Nolfo di Carpegna ("Il restauro dei dipinti
del Carpaccio di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni," Arte veneta, I,
1947, p. 67) the paintings in the Scuola were crumbling and
the pulverized color was slowly falling at the time of the restoration he describes. He also mentions a fire of 1912 nearby,
when the paintings were taken from their frames and rolled

up in order to save them.

Ruskin (op.cit., p. i3') included in his description of the
painting as St. Jerome in Heaven a statement by his consultant, James Reddie Anderson, that there was a very prominent
illuminated R on one of the documents under the table, and
surmised that it was the initial letter of "Resurrectio," later
commenting (p. 132) that "The keynote is struck by the
empty altar bearing the risen Lord." The book to which Anderson referred must be the open book leaning against the
dais (Fig. 3). The letter R is clearly distinguishable by its red
color from the remainder of the highly elaborated initial.
Naturally any interpretation of this initial must be entirely
speculative. The problem is complicated further by the fact that
not only first initials from works by saints were used in paintings of the period, but initials of words of any passages
throughout their works which were considered significant by
the artists (see the list of inscriptions on Tuscan paintings
from Augustine's works given by Kaftal, op.cit., col.
indiNevertheless, I should like to offer a guess stimulated lo0).
rectly by Ruskin's work. If the initial is indeed an "R," it
could be the first letter of the following passage from the
chapter on the Resurrection in Augustine's Enchiridion (xxIii,
3, 91): "The bodies of the saints, then, shall rise again free
from blemish and deformity, just as they will be also free from
corruption, encumbrance, or handicap. Their facility [facilitas] will be as complete as their felicity [felicitas] . .
."
(tr. Albert C. Outler, ed.cit., viI, p. 392). The first word of
the passage in the original is "Resurgent" (J. Rivi6re, (Euvres
de Saint Augustin, Ire s6r., ix, p. 264). The allusion could be
to Augustine's preoccupation, at the time of the episode told
in the letter, with his projected treatise on "how much glory
and joy the souls of the blessed have who rejoice with Christ"
(see above, p. 292). The Enchiridion was frequently published
during the period, and Venetian copies of 1483, 1485, and
1491 are listed in Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, Leipzig,
1926, III, cols. 72, 73, 75. It also appears in the list of Augustine's works in the Vicentine Catalogus sanctorum (fols. 2o6r206').

296
enjoyed

THE
there by the saints (naturally

ART

BULLETIN

included

his own hopes),

among

then these details

might

be regarded as emphasizing a contrast between the two saints shown in the same group of pictures.
In the previous two pictures Jerome has appeared heroic in aiding a wounded beast and ascetic
in dying in a state of self-denial and simplicity of dress. The following picture of Augustine in a
handsome study-oratory which contains objects alluding to worldly as well as religious preoccupations adds a final contribution to Carpaccio's characterization of Jerome through contrast.
Since Augustine's susceptibility to the pleasures of eye and ear were well known from his Confessions," it seems fitting that Carpaccio should employ them in this painting of Augustine to

illustratethe story, then well known, of his friend's posthumousadmonitions.

In illustrating this scene, Carpaccioalso posed a problem of particularconcern during his
period:the relativemeritsof deed and thought, of actionand philosophy.Suavely,in this instance,
and with a touchof humor,he approachedthe dilemmafaced by his contemporaries.
APPENDIX I
THE

LEGENDS

The circumstances of the forgery of the letters are

not known. Their first known appearance was in
Legendae de sanctis8s by Petrus Calo de Clugia, a
Dominican friar (d. 1348), a compiler of existing
material. At least one Venetian fourteenth century
manuscript of his work exists,"8 but unlike many other
such compilations, it was apparently not printed in the
fifteenth century.
Probably before 1350, Johannes Andreae, a Bolognese author on law, included the letters in his
He revealed himself as an ardent
Hieronymianus.82
devotee of St. Jerome and wrote that he had dictated
to painters the manner in which they should represent
him: with a cardinal's hat and a lion at his feet.8"
Around 1370, Johann von Neumarkt, Bishop of 01miitz, of the Praemonstratensian order, encountered
the Hieronymianus while traveling in Italy and translated it into German.84
Petrus Natalis or de Natalibus, a Venetian who became in 1370 Bishop of Equilio or Jesolo and was last

mentioned in 1400,"8 included the legends originating

in the letters in his Catalogus sanctorum,"6 of which
there exist subsequent printed editions, one of Vicenza
of 1493 and two of Venice, 1500 and 1506.87
At least twenty-eight Italian printed editions including the letters were made between 1475 and 1500,
eleven of which were printed in Venice.88 The Hieronymianus by Johannes Andreae was printed in Cologne
in 1482 and in two editions in Basel in 1514.89
Klapper believes that the letters originated in Southern France or more probably in Northern Italy in
Dominican circles, toward the end of the thirteenth
century."9 The Acta Sanctorum also assigned them to
that time."9 F. Cavallera, from internal theological content, regards the "Eusebius" letter as somewhat earlier
than the other two, which he believes were written by
another author near 1300.92
Manuscripts and printed works including the letters
appeared during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
in Denmark, Holland, France, Spain and Germany.93

79. Among earthly pleasures of the eye mentioned in Augustine's confessions (Outler, ed.cit., p. 232) are statuary and
other products of the arts. The Confessions were well known
in Carpaccio's period (Golden Legend, tr. Caxton, v, pp. 48ff.;
Vicentine Catalogus sanctorum, where they are listed in fols.
206r-2o6Y; Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, Leipzig, 1926,

87. Ludwig Hain, Repertorium Bibliographicum, II, I,

Stuttgartand Paris, 1831, p. 477. The British Museum,Catalogue of Printed Books, London, 1886, xxxv, lists additional
subsequenteditions of Lyons of 1509, 1519, 1521, and 1542.
88. Hain, op.cit., II, I, pp. 6o-62; D. Reichling, Appendices ad Hainii-Copingeri Repertorium Bibliographicum,

III, cols.

Munich,

72, 73, 75).

80. Acta sanctorum, Paris and Rome, 1865, Septembris vii,

p. 423.
81. Acta sanctorum, loc.cit.
82. Joseph Klapper, "Aus der Friihzeit des Humanismus,"
Festschrift zum 70. Geburtstage von Max Koch, Breslau, 1926,
p. 256.
and
83. As translated by Richter, op.cit., pp. 500-501
Pillion, op.cit., p. 306.
84. Joseph Klapper, "Schriften Johanns von Neumarkt," in
Konrad Burdach, Vom Mittelalter zur Reformation, Berlin,
1932, VI, 2, pp. v-vi; Anton Benedict, Das Leben des heil. Hieronymus, Prague, i88o, p. ii.
85. "Le lgendier de Pierre Calo," Analecta Bollandiana,
xxIxx, 1910, pp. 34-35.
86. Acta sanctorum, op.cit.

90o6, II, I, p. 50.

89. British Museum,Catalogueof Printed Books, I886, II;

Bibliotecahagiographicalatina, Brussels,1898-1899,1, p. 157.
90o. Joseph Klapper, "SchriftenJohannsvon Neumarkt,"in
Konrad Burdach, Vom Mittelalter zur Reformation, Berlin,
1932, VI, 2, p. v; idem, "Aus der Friihzeit des Humanismus,"
Festschrift zum 70. Geburtstage von Max Koch, Breslau,
1926,

p. 262.

91. Acta sanctorum, loc.cit.

92. Ferdinand Cavallera, Saint Jerdme, sa vie et sonl meuvre,
Louvain and Paris, 1922, II, I, pp. 144-145. For this reference I should like to thank Father Paul Grosjean of the Societe des Bollandistes of Brussels.
93. On a Danish manuscript: Daniel Dodge, "An Apocryphal Letter of St. Augustine to Cyril and a Life of St.
Jerome, Translated into Danish," Publications of the Modern

ST.

IN

AUGUSTINE

"ST.

JEROME'S

STUDY"

297

Perhaps Erasmus first pointed out that the letters thoroughly condemned in 1570 by J. Molanus in his
were spuriousas early as 1516 or 1517."o They were De historiaSS. imaginum et picturarum.95

TEXTS

OF THE

LEGEND

APPENDIX

II

OF JEROME'S

FIRST

Hieronymus. Vita et transitus, Venice, Pasquale and

Bertochus, 1485, fols. 22r-22' (Huntington Library
no. 3079), as transcribed by Eugene Brunelle.
Sed ut merita Hieronymi santissimi non lateant: quid
erga me, divina annuente clementia, in ipso sui obitus
die acciderit, enarrabo.
Quomodo apparuit sancto Augustino episcope.
Eodem namque die et hora quo exutus putredinis et
immundicie carnis toga Hieronymus sanctissimus vestimentum perpetue immortalitatis inextimabilis glorie et
leticie induit dum yponie in cellula mea quiescens avide
cogitans quales inessent animabus beatorum qui cum
christo gaudent glorie et leticiarum quantitas cupiens
inde ex hac materia brevem componere tractatum precibus impulsus nostri severi quondam venerabilis Martini
turonensis episcopi discipuli carta calamo pugilarique in
manibus susceptis, brevem vellem scribere epistolam
sanctissimo Hieronymo destinandam ut quicquid ex hoc
sentiret responderet. Sciebam enim in tam difficili questione a nullo alio viventium me posse doceri evidentius
cunque iam scribens salutationis exordium Hieronymo
praenotarent ineffabile subito lumen vestris invisum
temporibus nostris que nomine linguis declarandum cum
ineffabili inauditaque odorum omnium fragrentia cellula
in qua stabam intravit. Hora iam completorii. Quo a
me viso stupore admirationeque commotus cum et membrorum repente virtutes amisi. Nesciebam etenim tunc
quod dextera mirabilis dei exaltasset servum suum:
notas faciens in populis virtutes suas. Nesciebam etenim
quod deus antique miserationis servum suum fidelem a
carnis immundiciis dissolvisset et tam sublimem ei, in
celo sedem preparasset. Nesciebam certe investigabiles
vias domini. Nesciebam thesauros infinite dei sapientie.
Secreta et occulta dei iudicia non agnoscebam, quam
quos vult facit sua ineffabili sapientia ad sui agnitionem
venire. Quos autem vocat, predestinat, iustificat, et
beatificat prout decrevit. Itaque quia talem mei oculi
numquam perspexerant lucem talem olphatus meus
odorem non senserat, non tam novus tam inauditis
Language Association of America,
4, 1893, pp. 381vii,
407; Gunnar Knudsen, Mariager Legende-Haandskrift, Copenhagen, 1917-1930.
Printed editions have been listed from France, England,
Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and several places in Italy besides Florence and Venice (Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke,
Leipzig, i926, II, col. 202 on the Hieronymianus; Hain,
op.cit., Reichling, op.cit., and Biblioteca hagiographica latina,
Brussels, 1898-1899, I, p. 157 on editions of Hieronymus.
Vita et transitus; British Museum, Catalogue of Printed Books,

VISIT

TO AUGUSTINE

miris obstupescebam inter hec autem meis in me perstrepentibus cogitationibus quod hoc esset de luce dicens
verba vox emicuit. "Augustine, augustine, quid queris:
putasne brevi immittere vasculo mare totum, brevi includere pugillo terrarum orbem, celum firmare ne usitatos exerceat motus. Que oculus nullus hominum
videre potuit tuus videbit? Que auris nulla per sonum
hausit audiet tua, que cor humanum nullatenus intellexit, nec etiam cogitavit, existimas te posse intelligere?
Infinite rei quis erit finis? Immensa, qua mensura
metieris? potius totum mare artissimo clauderetur vasculo; potius terrarum orbem parvulus teneret pugillus;
potius a motu continuo celum desisteret: quam gaudiorum et glorie quibus beatorum anime sine fine potiuntur minorem intelligeres particulam, nisi ut ego experientia docereris. Discurre adhuc breve temporis
spacium; impossibilia facere ne coneris, donec impleatur
vite tue cursus. Hic non querasque non alibi, nisi quo
tam feliciter propero inveniri possunt. Hic satage talia
exercere opera, ut postmodum ibi quae hic aliqualiter
intelligere cupis, totaliter in eternum habeas, inde qui
intrant, nullatenus exeunt."
Petrus de Natalibus, Catalogus sanctorum, Vicenza, Ca
Zeno, 1493, fols. 237V-238r (Huntington Library no.
4120).

". .. vox de luce insonuit: quae ipsum de nimia presumptione redarguit: eoque existens in came mortali:
beatitudinem eternam comprehendere cogitasset: quod
nulli mortalium aliquanto possibile foret. Cum autem
Augustinus ab eo queteret quis esset. Respondit se esse
hieronymi animam: cui ipse epistolam notare ceperat
destinandam: que ipsa hora a carne soluta ad celi gaudia
properabat. Cum autem Augustinus ab ea multas questiones de trinitate et angelica natura atque de beata vita
quesivisset: et ipse ad singula clarius respondisset: lux
illa cum voce disparuit: odor tamen pluribus diebus
permansit."
[UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA]

1886, xxxv, on Petrus de Natalibus, Catalogussanctorum).

94. Migne, op.cit., col. 281 includesan "Admonitio"prefacing the letters in which Erasmus is mentioned among the
theologians who warned that they were false. His Life of
Jerome of 1517 might have been the occasionof his notice of
the letters (British Museum, Catalogue of Printed Books,
1886, xiv).

95. First printed in i570. The edition available to me is

of Louvain, I771, III, pp. 339-340.