Lazzaro Bastiani, Predella of St. Jerome
15th century
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
The three panels, arranged horizontally in the
predella,
present Jerome's removing the thorn from the lion's paw, his penitential life in the cave, and the rites following his death. As in the account in the Golden Legend, the others in the monastery took fright and fled when they saw the lion, but Jerome approached and the lion showed him his paw, which had a thorn in it.
In the center panel he "ceased not to beat my breast, praying our Lord to render to me the peaceable peace of my flesh." This is a very common iconographic type, although usually he prays before a much smaller crucifix.
In the third panel Jerome has died and a priest performs the Office of the Dead.
Read more about images of St. Jerome.
Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.