Saint Jerome Reading c. 1476

Alvise Vivarini painted this small panel of Saint Jerome, probably in Venice, sometime in the late fifteenth century. It’s fascinating to consider the image in relation to the city in which it was made. Venice was then a thriving center of commerce and humanist learning. Jerome’s celebrated translation of the Bible into Latin gave him a special appeal to humanist scholars. He was often depicted in his study, surrounded by books. Yet here we find him in the wilderness, absorbed in contemplation, his cardinal’s hat discarded. We might wonder about the kind of patron who would commission such a picture. Was it for private devotion? Or did it carry some implicit critique of institutional authority? There’s a great deal of research material that might shed light on that question: letters, diaries, account books. The point is that a painting is never just a painting. It’s always part of a larger social and institutional history.