JACOPO del SELLAIO
(b. ca. 1441, Firenze, d. 1493, Firenze)

St Jerome in the Wilderness

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Tempera on panel, 62 x 88 cm
Private collection

St Jerome, his arms outstretched in rapturous adoration of a crucifix, is shown in the centre with his traditional attributes. St Mary of Egypt, another hermit saint, is shown at the right in a cave. At the left, the adolescent St John the Baptist, who spent much of his life in the wilderness, receives the blessing of a similarly youthful Christ, an iconographically unusual episode.

This painting is a characteristic mature work by Jacopo del Sellaio. His distinctive, dry tempera technique, his sharp linear modelling and his predilection for light-toned pastel colouring reflects the influence of Botticelli.