The rhetoric teacher Augustine of Hippo (354–430), who was originally from north Africa, listens to the holy bishop Ambrose preaching in Milan. In the background, the scene that took place a little later under a fig tree is shown when he heard a voice saying Tolle, lege (Take up and read). In the Letters of St Paul he discovered texts that were to lead to his conversion (Romans 13:13). Alongside Ambrose, Augustine was venerated as one of the Church Fathers and his works widely read. The panel belongs to a triptych of which no other part is known.