This powerful sculptural fragment may represent St. Jerome, an important early Christian theologian and bishop who spent several years as a hermit and penitent. In art, St. Jerome is often shown praying in the wilderness, striking his bare chest with a stone; the marks and remains of red paint on the chest of this figure would therefore accord with this identification. The unknown sculptor has been eloquent in expressing spirituality and asceticism: the figure’s fixed stare seems to be turned inward, his head is shaved, his body gaunt and strained from fasting and other deprivations.