Name of Object:

St. Jerome

Location:

Rome, Latium, Italy

Holding Museum:

Borghese Gallery

 About Borghese Gallery, Rome

Original Owner:

Scipione Borghese

Current Owner:

Italian State

Date of Object:

1605/06

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Michelangelo Merisi, also known as Caravaggio (1571, Caravaggio (Bg)-1610, Porto Ercole (Gr))

Museum Inventory Number:

56

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

h: 116 cm; w: 153 cm

Provenance:

Scipione Borghese Collection

Type of object:

Painting

Description:

St. Jerome, Father of the Western Church, is shown translating the texts of the Old and New Testaments (Vulgate) into Latin. The scene is rendered suggestively with a neutral background from which the light-bathed figure emerges. On a table, near the books, there is a skull, signifying the penitential aspect of the saint, and his meditation on the Passion and death of Christ.
The composition, executed with high realism, is synonymous with the artist's style, giving the subjects a very particular theatricality that focuses solely on the actions or expressions of the characters without using monumental scenery or artifice, typical of Baroque art. St. Jerome was one of the most commonly represented figures of the Counter-Reformation. His active and contemplative life was held up as a model for the faithful, who saw in him a route to salvation, in addition to the importance placed on studying and translating the scriptures from Greek and Hebrew. The Vulgate was in fact the first Latin transcription of the Bible and therefore became a key tool for the dissemination of the sacred texts. The painting, according to tradition, was carried out expressly for Scipione Borghese, having recently been elected cardinal with the help of his uncle Camillo, who had become Pope Paul V on 16 May 1605. The cardinal, who helped the artist escape a prison sentence related to problems involving women in 1605, the year the piece is dated, was one of Caravaggio's great admirers, and procured 12 of the artist's pieces for his collection.

The artwork was given as a gift by the artist to Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who had helped him get out of a Roman prison. It represents St. Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Church, in the act of translating the Vulgate. For this reason, he is considered the patron saint of archaeologists, librarians, translators and students in general. The canvas dates from 1605, the year in which Borghese was made cardinal, making this painting even dearer to the newly appointed prince of the Church.

How Object was obtained:

Acquired by the Italian State in 1902.

Selected bibliography:

Della Pergola, P., Galleria Borghese. I Dipinti, II, Rome, 1959, n.115, pp. 81–83.
Bull, D., Dibbits, T., Rembrandt Caravaggio, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam, 2006, p. 148, cat. 35.
Hartje, N., Caravaggio. Originale und Kopien im Spiegel der Forschung, exhibition catalogue, Düsseldorf, 2006, p. 227, cat. 19.

Additional Copyright Information:

Copyright image: Archivio fotografico Soprintendenza Speciale PSAE e Polo Museale della Città di Roma.

Citation of this web page:

Sofia Barchiesi "St. Jerome" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;it;Mus11;39;en

Prepared by: Sofia BarchiesiSofia Barchiesi

SURNAME: Barchiesi
NAME: Sofia

TITLE: Author and Researcher

CV:
Sofia Barchiesi, a graduate and specialist in Art History and recipient of a scholarship from the School of Mediaeval and Modern Art History at Lumsa University, has been working with the Superintendency for Historical Artistic Heritage and the Museums of Rome since the late 1980s. She was responsible for cataloguing the art of the region and museums of Rome, studying the period of the Counter-Reformation particularly closely. She works with journals and writes essays, alternating her research and teaching work.
Translation by: Laurence Nunny
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: IT1 53