Saint Jerome in the Desert with Saints John the Baptist and Ansanus

This 1455 painting of Saint Jerome in the desert with Saints John the Baptist and Ansanus combines the penitent hermit with local Florentine saints. Jerome's prominence in Renaissance art reflected humanist veneration of the great biblical scholar and translator Altarpieces featuring rows of standing saints served both liturgical and devotional functions, identifying the church's patron saints and giving worshippers specific objects for personal prayer.

The multi-figure composition balances the wilderness setting with the formal requirements of devotional painting, rendered in Lippi's refined technique.