In the context of St. Augustine in His Study (Carpaccio), analyze the The Study of the Description, imagery, and symbolism.
St. Augustine is pictured sitting in his Italian stuliolo, or a study that is a private cabinet or room. These studies, also known as kunstkammer, wunderkammer or cabinets of curiosities, were typically used to display collectors items, and became popular in Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Aristocratic families collected items to exhibit their wealth, power, taste, and worldly knowledge, while others such as merchants and humanists collected items to show sophistication and business success. The study is a significant part of the painting's subject, catching the viewer's attention immediately and highlighting St. Augustine as a humanist scholar who was an intelligent, knowledgeable, and pious man. Numerous books lining the bookshelves display St. Augustine's intelligence, as do various objects around the room such as an astrolabe, figurines, a conch shell, furniture, and other ornaments. Other items in the study symbolize St. Augustine's Christian piety, such as the mitre, crook, and statue of the Resurrection of Christ, seen in the small niche with the altar located in the center of the back of the study.The objects presented were painted based on models and studio props from Islamic, Western, and Italian origin, such as a bronze pacing horse statue, a sculpture of Venus, and the statue of the resurrected Christ. Each one of these objects is distinguished by its own shape, texture, and pop of color in the painting, yet no one object is unequally emphasized. This provides a cataloging effect for these objects, many with symbolic meanings, and reinforces St. Augustine's ownership of them.
wunderkammer cabinets of curiosities cabinet kunstkammer Italy conch shell