In this artwork, how is the St. Augustine and the vision of the Description, imagery, and symbolism elucidated?
In this image, St. Augustine sits at his desk and writes a letter to St. Jerome, a figure like Augustine, who was also recognized for his intelligence. In the letter, St. Augustine recounts that while he was in his study, in the city of Hippo, he was contemplating treatise on the "glory of blessed souls who rejoice with Christ." He then began to write a letter to St. Jerome about it when he was suddenly bathed in divine light, accompanied by an indescribable aroma. At the very same time, St. Jerome had just died in Bethlehem and then his voice filled the room, chastising St. Augustine about his intellectual pride.This moment that the painting illustrates St. Augustine's seated at his desk raising his pen, while peering out a window from which miraculous light pours, and which was "not seen in our times, and hardly to be described in our poor language." This light is observed in the painting through the long shadows cast  shadows across the floor and the mesmerized, attentive expressions of both St. Augustine and his dog, who sits on the floor across the way from him.A finished preparatory drawing of this painting, made on paper with pen, survives that the British Museum in London that was made around 1501-1508. The detailed drawing that Carpaccio made highlights the setting and the use of light, while the figure of St. Augustine is more sketched. The most striking, albeit a minor difference between the drawing the finished painting, is that the final painting has a dog, where as the drawing shows, as well as the underdrawing of the actual painting (detected using infrared reflectography) was planned as some other small animal, perhaps a cat, weasel or ermine.Moreover, the light illuminates many of the objects that are exhibited throughout St. Augustine's study.
ermine divine light Bethlehem St. Jerome weasel infrared reflectography Carpaccio Hippo Jerome British Museum vision