Saint Jerome

Hendrick ter Brugghen's Saint Jerome (c. 1621) was painted shortly after the artist's return to Utrecht from a decade-long stay in Rome, where he was among the first Northern European painters to absorb the revolutionary naturalism of Caravaggio. Ter Brugghen became the most original and poetic of the Utrecht Caravaggisti, bringing a distinctly Northern European sensibility to Italian Baroque innovations. Jerome — the fourth-century scholar-saint who translated the Bible into Latin — is shown as a gaunt, aged ascetic, reflecting ter Brugghen's characteristic blend of naturalistic observation and spiritual intensity.

Ter Brugghen's handling of light and shadow owes much to Caravaggio but has a distinctly softer, more atmospheric quality, with warm, golden flesh tones and a looser, more painterly touch than the sharp contrasts of Italian tenebrism.