Saint Jerome, part of an altarpiece

Donato dei Bardi worked in Genoa, a city that had close ties to France in the early fifteenth century and where the artist could familiarize himself with the smooth surfaces and intricate details of Franco-Flemish painting. The refined qualities of hair and fur in the figure of Saint Jerome reflect Donato’s inspiration from Northern painting.

Saint Jerome is often shown in a cardinal’s robe and hat to reflect his work for the Church. The open book and the pen refer to the saint’s scholarly accomplishments: he was the first to translate the New Testament from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, a text that much later became known as the Vulgate. A lion almost always accompanies Jerome, who was said to have removed a thorn from its paw, thus making a loyal friend of the wild beast.

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