Saint Jerome Writing (1605-1606) by Caravaggio, Large Framed Art Print

Public domain art from the Galleria Borghese, Rome, digitally enhanced in high resolution. 

Saint Jerome Writing, also known as Saint Jerome in his Study or Saint Jerome, is an oil painting by Caravaggio, generally dated 1605-1606.

The painting shows Saint Jerome, a Doctor of the Church in Roman Catholicism, who was a famous subject for painting. Caravaggio also created other paintings of him in Meditation and engaged in writing. The artwork was executed fast, so there are irregularities in the rendering of the beard and the outlines of the books and cloak. Thus, it has been suggested that the work is not completed.

The artwork was executed for Cardinal Scipione Borghese in the seventeenth century. Famous art historian, Giovanni Pietro Bellori, recounts in his “Vite de’ pittori, scultori e architetti moderni” (1672) that the canvas was in the Borghese Collection in the mid seventeenth century, when it was hanging in the Stanza del Moro. The masterpiece was attributed to Caravaggio in 1693, and later, from 1790 onwards, it was ascribed to Jusepe de Ribera. However, most art historians claim that the painting should be dated to the end of Caravaggio’s artist period (1606).

The main features are the illusionistic representation of the still life on the table and the power of the red cloak enveloping the white-haired figure of the saint. In this artwork, Saint Jerome is not depicted as a penitent, as is often the case, but rather as a scholar.

His head counterbalanced with the skull, he is focused on reading and annotating the sacred passages and symbolically counters the futility of worldly goods. The concept of Saint Jerome’s Writing is itself an astonishing achievement, in which the composition and the subject strengthen each other: an aging saint, hectically concentrating on what he has written, extends a twisting hand to the inkwell on the other side of the table, and at the same time points to the skull, a reminder about death, which symmetrically observes him in his very struggle to overcome it.

Place great art for your interior decor with this durable wood-framed poster. Frame comes in black or white and is available in seven versatile sizes.

.: Museum-quality custom frames
.: Matte premium paper
.: Plexiglass front
.: For indoor use
.: Multiple sizes