Saint Jerome and a Donor

Piero della Francesca's Saint Jerome and a Donor, painted around 1440 for the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, is among his earliest surviving works. The panel shows the Church Father with a kneeling donor, establishing the votive portrait format that Piero would develop throughout his career Piero della Francesca brought mathematical precision and monumental stillness to his figures, creating some of the most geometrically pure compositions in all of Renaissance painting.

This early work already displays Piero's distinctive interest in geometric form and luminous color, with the landscape and figures rendered in the clear, analytical light that would become increasingly refined in his mature paintings.