Scenes from the Life of Saint Augustine of Hippo ca. 1490 Master of Saint Augustine Netherlandish This painting was the central panel of a triptych dedicated to Saint Augustine (354-430), a Christian theologian so celebrated that he is sometimes called a Doctor of the Church. The composition is divided into five scenes: in the center, Saint Augustine is consecrated bishop of Hippo Regius, a Roman city in present-day Algeria; in the upper left, Saint Augustine is ordained as a priest; in the lower left, Saint Augustine preaches while his mother, Monica, anachronistically says the rosary, a prayer regimen of the late Middle Ages. At the upper right, Saint Augustine converses with a boy who says that filling a hole in the sand with the sea is no more difficult than explaining the Trinity; and in the lower right, Saint Augustine preaches. In the windows behind the altar at the right are kneeling figures of a man and woman, along with coats of arms. Might these be clues to the original plac