The Vision of St. Augustine

This is a compositional drawing which depicts St. Augustine in his study. The episode portrayed derives from an apocryphal account of the life of St. Jerome. Augustine has just sat down at his desk to write Jerome a letter when 'suddenly an indescribable light, no seen in our timesÂ…entered the cell in which I was.' This unearthly glow revealed to Augustine that Jerome had just died. This is one of many Italian Renaissance drawings purchased outright by the Art Fund and presented to the British Museum in the first half of the twentieth century.