BOTTICELLI, Sandro
(b. 1445, Firenze, d. 1510, Firenze)

The Last Communion of St Jerome

c. 1495
Tempera on panel, 34,5 x 25,4 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This small panel was intended as a private devotional picture. It was probably commissioned by the wealthy wool merchant Francesco del Pugliese.

The subject of the work is the moment in which St Jerome receives the sacred Host from the hands of hs companion, St Eusebius, for the last time before the former's death. The painter has opened one of the walls of the hut and has depicted the events in a bare room covered with wickerwork. According to apocryphal tradition, the saint died in a monastery close to Bethlehem. The painting, which is designed for the observers spiritual edification, presents an exemplary view of the saint's modest way of life.