St. Augustine in His Study (Carpaccio)

St. Augustine in His Study (also called Vision of St. Augustine) is an oil and tempera on canvas painting executed in 1502 by the Italian Renaissance artist Vittore Carpaccio housed in the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni in Venice, Italy. The painting depicts St. Augustine while he has a vision while writing a letter, sitting in a large room filled with objects. The study, or studiolo, was one way in which Italian aristocrats displayed their wealth, power, taste, and worldly knowledge. The study is spacious, the objects so arranged that each individually draws one's attention. The artist signed the work on the small plaque, or cartellino, in the foreground near the dogs that reads: "VICTOR / CARPATHIVS / FINGEBAT" ("Vittore Carpaccio was forming [this]").