Saint Jerome Reading
Dublin Core
Title
Saint Jerome Reading
Subject
Saint Jerome Reading is one of four paintings depicting a canonical character being transformed by Giovanni Bellini.[3] In this painting Belini experimented with background colors which changed not just Venetian art, but European Art. The painting focuses on Saint Jerome or Jerome of Stridon who was a Latin priest, confessor, theologian, and historian. He his best known for his translation of most of the bible in the Latin vulgate.
Description
The first thing that a viewer would notice about this painting is the robust amount of earthy tones in every part of the painting, apart from the crystal blue sky and snow white rabbit.
Bellini's depiction of this saint is not focused on him but rather multiple items. Since there is not a central focus in the painting your eyes are drawn to three different sections of the painting. In the top left quarter you will see two rabbits on the browned grass along with a medium blue sea surrounding a city and ruins. The ruins and the city shows the Catholic belief that one day man and everything we have made will one day return to Earth. On the right half there is an extremely detailed interior of a stone cave on the top half of the painting that clearly shows the lighting difference in the cave with the difference in the color of the rocks near the cave entrance. Saint Jerome is sitting on a rock in the bottom half reading a book while sitting on a rock with a chamber of the cave sitting behind him. Saint Jerome is depicted in a very scholarly stance due to the education that he received over his whole life. He is also shown alone which makes him seem as though he is more connected to the natural world and in a tranquil state.[2] In front of the saint is a small stone, pool like structure. Once all the aspects of the painting are taken in Bellini's use of religious themes in the painting is very clear.
Bellini's depiction of this saint is not focused on him but rather multiple items. Since there is not a central focus in the painting your eyes are drawn to three different sections of the painting. In the top left quarter you will see two rabbits on the browned grass along with a medium blue sea surrounding a city and ruins. The ruins and the city shows the Catholic belief that one day man and everything we have made will one day return to Earth. On the right half there is an extremely detailed interior of a stone cave on the top half of the painting that clearly shows the lighting difference in the cave with the difference in the color of the rocks near the cave entrance. Saint Jerome is sitting on a rock in the bottom half reading a book while sitting on a rock with a chamber of the cave sitting behind him. Saint Jerome is depicted in a very scholarly stance due to the education that he received over his whole life. He is also shown alone which makes him seem as though he is more connected to the natural world and in a tranquil state.[2] In front of the saint is a small stone, pool like structure. Once all the aspects of the painting are taken in Bellini's use of religious themes in the painting is very clear.
Creator
Giovanni Bellini
Source
1) Freedman, Luba. "Apelles, Giovanni Bellini, and Michelangelo in Titian's Life and Art." Artibus Et Historiae 34, no. 67 (2013): 251-73. Accessed September 23, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23510254.
2) Belting, Hans. "St. Jerome in Venice: Giovanni Bellini and the Dream of Solitary Life." I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance 17, no. 1 (2014): 5-33. Accessed September 23, 2020. doi:10.1086/676482.
3) Christiansen, Keith. 2013. "Bellini and the Meditational Poesia." Artibus Et Historiae (67): 9-20,311. https://login.proxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.proxy.lib.duke.edu/docview/1373206452?accountid=10598.
4) Giovanni Bellini, Venetian. 1505. Saint Jerome Reading. Place: The National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Gift of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation. https://library.artstor.org/asset/ANGA_KRESSIG_10312335544.
2) Belting, Hans. "St. Jerome in Venice: Giovanni Bellini and the Dream of Solitary Life." I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance 17, no. 1 (2014): 5-33. Accessed September 23, 2020. doi:10.1086/676482.
3) Christiansen, Keith. 2013. "Bellini and the Meditational Poesia." Artibus Et Historiae (67): 9-20,311. https://login.proxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.proxy.lib.duke.edu/docview/1373206452?accountid=10598.
4) Giovanni Bellini, Venetian. 1505. Saint Jerome Reading. Place: The National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Gift of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation. https://library.artstor.org/asset/ANGA_KRESSIG_10312335544.
Publisher
Bellini, Giovanni; Venetian; Saint Jerome Reading; 1505; The National Gallery of Art;Washington, D.C; Gift of The Samuel H. Kress Foundation. https://library.artstor.org/asset/ANGA_KRESSIG_10312335544.
Date
1505
Contributor
Darien Sansosti
Rights
National Gallery of Art
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Image Source: Artstor
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Image Source: Artstor
Format
painted surface: 47 x 37.5 cm (18 1/2 x 14 3/4 in.) support: 48.9 x 39.5 cm (19 1/4 x 15 9/16 in.) framed: 62.9 x 52.9 x 6 cm (24 3/4 x 20 13/16 x 2 3/8 in.)
Type
Oil painting on Panel
Coverage
The National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Citation
Giovanni Bellini, “Saint Jerome Reading,” ARTHIST 89S - Visual Culture of Venice - Fall 2020, accessed October 22, 2026, https://venice.dahvc.org/fall-2020/items/show/64.