The Last Communion of Saint Jerome

Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)

ca. 1491–1503(?) · Pen and brown ink, brown wash, traces of black chalk. · Robert Lehman Collection

Saint Jerome, the fourth-century ascetic and scholar who translated the Bible into Latin, is portrayed receiving his last communion from fellow monks. The drawing is a contemporary copy of a painting by Botticelli (one of the four painted versions is in the Metropolitan Museum, 14.40.642). The study focuses on the primary figural grouping, excluding some of the accompanying figures as well as the interior view of the saint’s cell. The Metropolitan’s painting was made in the 1490s for the wealthy Florentine wool merchant and art patron, Francesco del Pugliese.

Artist

Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)

Date

ca. 1491–1503(?)

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, traces of black chalk.

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975