Penance of Saint Jerome
Historical Context
Bartolomeo di Giovanni painted this Penance of Saint Jerome around 1500 in Florence. The penitent Jerome beating his breast in the wilderness was one of the most popular devotional subjects in Italian art. Bartolomeo was a productive workshop painter who collaborated with several major Florentine masters. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting.
Technical Analysis
Tempera and oil on panel with detailed rocky landscape setting and conventional Florentine rendering of the ascetic saint. The wilderness is depicted with botanical and geological detail characteristic of Florentine landscape painting.
