This year marks the 500th Anniversary of the death Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), one of the greatest—if not the greatest—artists of all time, and to honor the occasion, The Metropolitan Museum Of Art is bringing one of Leonardo's masterpieces to New York City. From July 15 through October 6, The Met will be exhibiting the artist’s St. Jerome Praying in the Wilderness (begun around 1483), which will be on special loan from the Vatican Museums.

The work portrays St Jerome (A.D. 347–420), one of the key theologians of the early Christian Church, during a two-year period when he lived as a hermit in a desert in Syria. Leonardo has him seated, holding a rock in one hand, which he used to beat his chest in penance, according to lore. Likewise, tradition holds that the lion curled in front of Jerome became his companion after the Saint extracted a thorn from the animal’s paw.