Department: Ruskin

This drawing is a tiny detail from part of a cycle of paintings in the Scuola of San Giorgio degli Schiavoni in Venice, which Carpaccio painted between 1502 and 1507. This is the face from a full length figure of the monk as he leads a lion into his monastery, its injured paw upraised. In the background a number of terrified monks are seen running away. More detailed copies of this scene by Alessandri and Charles Fairfax Murray are also in the collection. Ruskin found the original scene rather amusing because of the terrified monks shown running across the monastery garden. Ruskin commented more positively on Carpaccio's depiction of St Jerome: 'The saint is leading in his new pet, as he would a lamb, and vainly expostulating with his brethren for being ridiculous…there is no sign of trouble or asceticism on the old man's face, he is evidently altogether happy, his life being complete…’