Saint Jerome

Description

While he did produce a small number of etchings himself, Guido Reni nonetheless appreciated the possibilities offered by circulating his works via prints made in collaboration with other artists. Here Jerome appears more pensive and scholarly than in the nearby woodcut (1955.1070), made after a different Reni drawing, which shows him striking himself in the chest with a rock. While only Coriolano included an explicit halo, elegantly inscribed with the tan color block, both sheets movingly depict an impassioned saint striving for spiritual perfection in the wilderness.

Saint Jerome

Guido Reni

1630–35

Accession Number

111860

Medium

Etching and engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Plate: 21.6 × 13.9 cm (8 9/16 × 5 1/2 in.); Sheet: 22.7 × 15 cm (8 15/16 × 5 15/16 in.)

Classification

etching

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Bernard F. Rogers Collection