St Jerome, his arms outstretched in rapturous adoration of a crucifix, is shown in the centre with his traditional attributes. St Mary of Egypt, another hermit saint, is shown at the right in a cave. At the left, the adolescent St John the Baptist, who spent much of his life in the wilderness, receives the blessing of a similarly youthful Christ, an iconographically unusual episode.
This painting is a characteristic mature work by Jacopo del Sellaio. His distinctive, dry tempera technique, his sharp linear modelling and his predilection for light-toned pastel colouring reflects the influence of Botticelli.
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