Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio, 1605-1606
Bellori mentions Carravaggio's Saint Jerome thus: "For Cardinal Scipione Borghese, Caravaggio painted a "Saint Jerome writing with concentration; he extends his hand and the pen toward the inkwell." In 1659 it is again mentioned by Manilli, Villa Borghese: "Stanza del Moro, it San Girolamo, the sta scrivendo, e del Caravaggio."
The Borghese Saint Jerome is a characteristic work of Caravaggio's later Roman years. It was made for Scipione Borghese about the same time as the beautiful David, to which the Saint Jerome is stylistically close in the fluid treatment of light, in retaining the bodies within a slightly receding closed space, and in the evident, but very subtle movement toward the spectator.
The bearded old man, his bald head slanting a bit forward, is a further development of similar types in Caravaggio's earlier work (the man with the eyeglasses in the Calling of Saint Matthew, Saint Peter in the Crucifixion of St. Peter, and the attendant in The Conversion of St. Paul), and is closest to the head of the long-bearded Apostle who stands almost in the center of the Death of the Virgin of 1605.
The painting of St. Jerome in Meditation at the convent of Montserrat in Spain came there from a Roman collection in 1911. It shows the saint almost in full-length, and the facial type is the same as that in the Borghese painting. Longhi accepts it as an original by Caravaggio. This canvas lacks the distinction of that in the Borghese and may well be a very clever imitation.
Other paintings/pictures tagged "St Jerome"
"Saint Jerome in His Study" (1514) British Museum, London |
"St. Jerome in Meditation" (1605) Museo del Monasterio de Santa Maria, Monserrat |
"St Jerome" (1607) St John Museum, La Valletta |
"St Jerome" (1521) Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon |
Popular Works by Caravaggio
Bacchino Malato (1593) • Concert of Youths (1595) • St Catherine of Alexandria (1598) • Boy Bitten by a Lizard (1594-1596) • Penitent Magdalene (1597) • Bacchus (1596) • Boy Peeling a Pear (1592-1593) • The Cardsharps (1594) • St. Francis in Ecstasy (~1600) • Rest on Flight to Egypt (1596-1597) • Martha and Mary Magdalene (1598)
Caravaggio Maturity period paintings
Saint Jerome Writing (1605-1606) • St. John The Baptist (1602) • The Crowning with Thorns (1602-1603) • The Entombment (1602-1603) • St. Jerome in Meditation (1605) • Ecce Homo (1606) • St. John the Baptist (1595) • Saint Francis (1606) • The Crowning with Thorns (1595) • St. Francis (1606) • Madonna with the Serpent (1606) • Madonna di Loreto (1603-1605)
Caravaggio Early maturity paintings
Narcissus (1597-1599) • Judith Beheading Holofernes (1598-1599) • Amor Victorious (1601-1602) • David with the Head of Goliath 3 (1609-1610) • Taking of the Christ (1602) • St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness 1 (1607) • The Sacrifice of Isaac (1601-1602) • Portrait of Maffeo Barberini (1599) • Supper at Emmaus (1606)
Caravaggio Later paintings (the Maltese period)
Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt (1608) • Beheading of John the Baptist (1608) • St Jerome (1607) • Sleeping Cupid (1608) • Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt 2 (1607-1608) • Christ at the Column (1607) • The Seven Acts of Mercy (1607) • Flagellation of Christ (1607) • Madonna del Rosario (1607) • Raising of Lazarus (1609) • Burial of St Lucy (1608)
Caravaggio Cerasi Chapel Paintings
The Conversion of St. Paul (1601) • The Conversion of St. Paul (1600)
Caravaggio Latest paintings
Salome with the Head of the Baptist (1609) • The Denial of St Peter (1610) • Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence (1609) • David with the Head of Goliath 2 (1606-1607) • The Annunciation (1608-1609) • Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (1607)
Caravaggio Contarelli Chapel Paintings
Martyrdom of St. Matthew (1599-1600) • The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602)