Benozzo Gozzoli
The Baptism of St. Augustine
1464-5
Fresco
Church of St. Augustine, San Gimignano, Italy
The saint, in a deep font, is baptized by St. Ambrose. The haloed woman behind Augustine is his mother, St. Monica. The haloed man beside her may be St. Alipius, who was baptized the same day. Or, considering that he wears what appears to be a monastic habit, he could be Evodius, another friend of Augustine's who had been baptized earlier and who would accompany Augustine to North Africa.
The words inscribed on the back wall are the openings of two hymns, Te Deum Laudamus and Te Dominum Confitemur. According to the Golden Legend, in joy over his conversion Augustine sang out the first of the hymns and Ambrose responded with the second (Ryan 121).
This image is just one of seventeen panels on the life of St. Augustine that were commissioned by the Augustinian Order, which built the church in the 13th century and still owns it today.
Read more about images of St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and St. Monica.
Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.
