San Girolamo che cura il leone 

Editor: Here we have what seems to be an oil painting by Antoniazzo Romano called 'San Girolamo che cura il leone'. The damage to the painting almost makes the right half of the scene ghostly, yet it makes me wonder how such paintings were made, where the raw materials come from... What can we really say about this piece? Curator: The focus on the 'making' is key here. Let's consider the tempera and oil paints: Where did Romano and his workshop source their pigments? Were they local, highlighting regional trade networks? Or imported, reflecting broader economic ties? The very materiality of the artwork embeds it in a web of social and economic relations. Editor: I hadn't thought of it that way before! So the red in the robes, or the gold in the frame—their value wasn't just aesthetic. Curator: Precisely. And it extends beyond the pigments themselves. Who prepared the panel? How many apprentices were involved in the production? The 'San Girolamo' isn't just a devotional image, it's a record of skilled labor, of workshop practices and the artist’s means of production. Consider the lion—was the depiction based on firsthand observation, or existing illustrations? That alone reveals much about artistic practice at the time. Editor: I guess seeing the art this way reveals the world of labor surrounding it, not just art. Curator: Exactly! We need to look at the materials and techniques, they are always products of their time and speak volumes about the values, opportunities, and constraints of the society that produced them. Editor: I’m starting to think differently about Renaissance art, about everything it communicates, that's fascinating. Curator: Indeed. By looking at the materials and production processes, we can appreciate that materiality provides rich insights and challenge assumptions about artistic creation.