“Saint Jerome in the Wilderness”
“Saint Jerome in the Wilderness” is a tempera on wood panel painting by the Italian Renaissance artist, Giovanni Bellini, from circa 1453 to 1455. Bellini created this piece when he was about just 25 years old, and it is his earliest painting to survive to this day.
In this piece, Bellini depicts Saint Jerome, the hermit who spent his time alone in the wilderness translating the Bible into Latin. Saint Jerome lived from approximately 342/347 until 419/420. He is depicted speaking to a lion as he works on his translations. The lion is a reference to a miracle ascribed to Saint Jerome. While in the desert, he encountered a lion that was suffering from a thorn stuck in its paw. Saint Jerome removed the thorn, and the lion remained with him in the wilderness as his constant and only companion.
Many of Bellini’s works from this early period in his career were done in the Quattrocento style, the style of the 1400s. They are similar in technique to his father (or much older brother, research is still ongoing), Jacopo Bellini, and brother, Gentile Bellini. Jacopo and Gentile were both very important artists in the Venice School of the Italian Renaissance, with Jacopo credited as one of its founders. The style of the time is visible in this piece, as seen in the visible outlines of the figures and the rocky landscape in the background.
However, there are subtle hints within the piece that illustrate techniques Giovanni would expand and improve upon. The gradient of light as seen in the sky, as it fades from a light blue to a darker blue, was an aspect first seen in Bellini’s early works. He is often credited with capturing the first depiction of dawn in a painting. The details in the surroundings as well as on his tunic show the shadows and lights from the sun, adding a depth to the scene not seen in other pieces from this time. Additionally, his colors are a little more saturated and bolder.
Bellini is often credited with progressing the Venetian Renaissance art style from the Quattrocento style into that of the High Renaissance. He is regarded as a revolutionary artist, successfully transitioning from tempera paints to oil paints, resulting in rich, bright, and colorful works.
In 1505, about 50 years later, Bellini created another painting with a similar theme, “Saint Jerome in the Desert”. The later painting was made with oils, which Bellini had mastered early on after they first reached Italy through the ports of Venice. The paintings are very similar, depicting Saint Jerome in the same outfit while working on his translations in the mouth of a cave. However, the differences between the two paintings highlight Bellini’s development of style from the Quattrocento to the High Renaissance as he moved from using tempera to oil paints. The later painting, “Saint Jerome in the Desert”, is at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in the United States.
“Saint Jerome in the Wilderness” is currently on display at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England.
For more on Giovanni Bellini, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
