Leonardo da Vinci’s St. Jerome

Leonardo da Vinci died 500 years ago. To honor that anniversary, the Met Fifth Avenue has received a very special loan from Italy’s Vatican Museums. For three months, art enthusiasts can view da Vinci’s unfinished painting Saint Jerome Praying in the Wilderness—which represents the Christian saint later in life, when he is said to have lived as a hermit in the desert. The unfinished nature of this work allows viewers to better understand da Vinci’s creative process, and eagle-eyed visitors may even see the artist’s fingerprints visible on the surface.