Saint Jerome

Saint Jerome (1493), in the Uffizi Gallery, depicts the scholar-penitent who translated the Bible into Latin — a subject with particular resonance in the Humanist atmosphere of late fifteenth-century Florence. Jerome's dual identity as both rigorous scholar and desert ascetic made him attractive to Humanist patrons who wanted to reconcile classical learning with Christian devotion. By 1493 Lippi had developed a highly personal treatment of the hermit saint, setting him in landscape environments of theatrical rocky complexity. This Uffizi canvas reflects his command of the Jerome type at a moment when he had achieved full artistic maturity.

The rocky landscape setting for Saint Jerome allows Lippi to exploit strong contrasts of shadow and light, with the saint's pale body and red cardinal's robe — anachronistic but conventional — standing out against the deep tones of the cave or rocky grotto. The Vulgate manuscript and the lion complete the standard iconographic programme.