The Vision of St. Augustine
Dublin Core
Title
The Vision of St. Augustine
Description
Carpaccio’s "The Vision of St. Augustine" depicts St. Augustine in his cell writing a letter to St. Jerome to try to quantify the exact amount of joy that a person feels in the presence of God. In the moment that is painted, a bright light with the voice of St. Jerome appears in the window to announce his death before he departs for Heaven––also answering the question posed to him in the letter. He argues against Augustine and says that it is impossible to enumerate and describe concretely the content of human souls. Augustine is startled, and the fluttering pages and heightened alert of the dog in the foreground capture the precise moment that he receives the message. It is a slice of divine revelation, outside of the scope of human communication.
The background contains detailed manuscripts and an altar, both of which are clear of clutter. This contrasts with the foreground, which contains open space and a luxurious white dog, as well as a desk filled with papers and other objects at the breast of St. Augustine.
It is part of his collection on the life of St. Jerome, which includes two other paintings: St. Jerome and the Lion and The Obsequies of St. Jerome. This series combines fantastical religious scenes with realism in fine details, which relates to the combination of myth and reality in his contemporary Venice.
The background contains detailed manuscripts and an altar, both of which are clear of clutter. This contrasts with the foreground, which contains open space and a luxurious white dog, as well as a desk filled with papers and other objects at the breast of St. Augustine.
It is part of his collection on the life of St. Jerome, which includes two other paintings: St. Jerome and the Lion and The Obsequies of St. Jerome. This series combines fantastical religious scenes with realism in fine details, which relates to the combination of myth and reality in his contemporary Venice.
Creator
Vittore Carpaccio
Source
Brooke, Caroline. "Vittore Carpaccio's Method of Composition in His Drawings for the Scuola Di S. Giorgio Teleri." Master Drawings 42, no. 4 (2004): 303-14. Accessed September 9, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1554668.
Cook, Albert. "CARPACCIO'S ANIMALS." The Centennial Review 27, no. 4 (1983): 224-43. Accessed September 9, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23739724.
Galey, Alan. "The Human Presence in Digital Artefacts." In Text and Genre in Reconstruction: Effects of Digitalization on Ideas, Behaviours, Products and Institutions, edited by McCarty Willard, 93-118. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2010. Accessed September 9, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vjtd9.8.
Carpaccio, Vittore, 1455?-1525?. c.1502. St. Augustine in his Study. https://library.artstor.org/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822000556751.
Publisher
Commissioned by Scuola Schiavoni
Data from: University of California, San Diego
Date
c. 1502
Contributor
Vik Manocha
Format
Tempera on panel, 141 cm x 210 cm
Type
Painting
Coverage
Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice, Italy
Files
Collection
Citation
Vittore Carpaccio, “The Vision of St. Augustine,” ARTHIST 89S - Visual Culture of Venice - Fall 2020, accessed October 22, 2026, https://venice.dahvc.org/fall-2020/items/show/19.