St. Augustine Reading the Epistle of St. Paul 1465

Benozzo Gozzoli painted this fresco of St. Augustine in the mid-fifteenth century, here in San Gimignano. The Augustinian order, like the Dominicans and Franciscans, was part of a wave of new religious movements that emphasized preaching and communal living. By depicting Augustine, Gozzoli elevates the saint as a figure of intellectual authority. Notice how Augustine is absorbed in reading, with an assistant at his side and a verdant landscape behind him. This is a cultural trope that emphasizes the virtue of study. Commissioned for a church, the artist clearly aimed to create an image that would inspire and edify the local faithful. Understanding such a work involves historical research into the specific religious order it was made for, and the precise moment in its history in which it was commissioned. This illuminates the meaning of art as something rooted in its historical context.