Heilige Hieronymus c. 1602

This is Girolamo Olgiati's engraving "Heilige Hieronymus". The composition immediately strikes us with its division between light and shadow, a visual dichotomy that invites contemplation. The figure of Saint Jerome is illuminated, drawing our eyes to his contemplative pose. Olgiati employs hatching and cross-hatching to create tonal variations and textural contrasts, from the smoothness of skin to the roughness of the landscape. This detail serves not only an aesthetic purpose but also a symbolic one. In semiotic terms, the sharp contrasts could be read as signifiers of the tensions between the material and the spiritual. The formal arrangement invites us to consider how it challenges fixed meanings. The saint is accompanied by a lion, traditionally a symbol of strength, here seemingly subdued and tamed by the saint's piety. The skull and crucifix nearby further underscore themes of mortality and redemption. The artist invites us to interpret and reinterpret these symbols in relation to human existence.