St. Augustine

This full-length image of a priest wearing a long beard and bishop's crown shows the figure holding three books and is thought to be St. Augustine, one of the Latin church patriarchs. Without question, this painting was originally part of a polyptych altarpiece. In 1961 Federico Zeri attempted a reconstruction of the original altarpiece and indicated that there are three other panels extant of the same size, format and background that are thought to be part of the same altarpiece (St. Lawrence, Thyssen collection, Madrid; St. Ambrose, the Office for National Art Property, The Hague, and St. John the Baptist, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford). While there is no specific evidence to support his claim, Zeri believes that these four works were part of the altarpiece for S. Lorenzo of Castel San Pietro, described in records in which Crivelli is said to have received the deposit for the work in 1487. The figural type seen here corresponds to those of many of the sainted bishops he depicted (such as St. Augustine, Colonna Gallery, Rome), and it is possible that the dullness of the depicted line could speak of the intervention of his disciples. This work passed from the Butler collection of London to the hands of Matsukata Kojiro, and was brought to Japan prior to World War II. The painting was displayed in the 3rd Matsukata Collection exhibition held in 1930 as the work of Vittore Crivelli, Carlo's younger brother. The painting then passed into private hands in Japan and was purchased by the NMWA in 1962. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 13)