Saints Jerome and John the Baptist

Saint Jerome, wearing his red cardinal’s hat, and Saint John the Baptist stand side by side on a grassy hillock. Saint John’s sturdy toes interrupt a carpet of wild flowers, including yellow dandelions, violets and strawberries.

A lion sits at Saint Jerome’s feet – according to his legend, when living as a monk near Bethlehem Jerome pulled a thorn from a lion’s foot; it then became his companion. John the Baptist is shown in the camel-hair tunic that he wore when he was in the wilderness, preaching and baptising people in the river Jordan. His preached about Christ and his significance, and so he carries a cross and a scroll with the words he spoke about Christ: ‘Behold! The Lamb of God.’

The panel comes from a large double-sided altarpiece that Masolino and Masaccio collaborated on for the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. This panel is by Masaccio, but Masolino had to complete the altarpiece after the artist’s death in 1428/9.

Text: © The National Gallery, London

Painting photographed in its frame by Google Arts & Culture, 2023.