Funerales de san Jerónimo

When Filippo Lippi took on this altarpiece, he had just arrived in Prato to begin the fresco cycle that would occupy him for years in the town's cathedral. It was commissioned by the local provost, Geminiano Inghirami, a churchman who had brought Donatello and other Florentine talent to Prato. Jerome lies on a decorated cloth while monks crowd around him, their faces working through grief. Look at the front of the scene, where Inghirami kneels in bright red and a crippled boy leans in to point at the saint's body. That gesture is a painter's device, pulling your eye off the donor's costume and back to the dead man it was meant to honour.