[1] In 1464 Botticelli's father bought a house in Via Nuova nearby (modern Via della Porcellana), which Sandro took over in 1470 and lived in for the rest of his life.

[2] The work was commissioned by the Vespucci family, probably Amerigo's father Nastaglio, a notary, and his brother Giorgio Antonio, both neighbours of Botticelli.

As in other cases, such direct competition "was always an inducement to Botticelli to put out all his powers", and the fresco, now his earliest to survive, is regarded as his finest by Ronald Lightbown.

[5] Both depicted two Doctors of the Church in their studies, with a number of objects which mark them as scholars and precursors of Renaissance Humanism.

The precise subject is a legend, probably first found in the 13th century, of a vision Augustine had as he began to write a letter to Jerome in his study at Hippo in 420.

A light and sweet odour came into his study and a voice told him that "he might as soon enclose the ocean in a small vessel, as soon clasp the whole earth in his fist, as soon halt the movement of the heavens as describe the beatitude of the saints without having experienced it", as the speaker was now doing.