The Vision of Saint Jerome (c. 1660): Art, History and Details

The Vision of Saint Jerome (c. 1660) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Giovanni Battista Langetti (Italian, 1635–1676).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Jerome (c. 347–420 CE) studied Greek and Latin literature in Rome, but eventually pursued theology, perceiving his conduct as corrupt and sinful. Around 374 CE, Jerome had a vision of the Last Judgment in which an angel called him to task for his transgressions. Jerome then withdrew from society, learned Hebrew, and studied the Gospels, which led to his influential translations of the Bible. Langetti here follows a convention by depicting Jerome's vision after he retreated from the world. Working in the northern Italian port of Genoa, Langetti absorbed Caravaggio's impact, seen in the composition's naturalistic bodies and dramatic light.

Object facts

• Title: The Vision of Saint Jerome
• Date: c. 1660
• Creator attribution: Giovanni Battista Langetti (Italian, 1635–1676)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 238 x 187 x 13 cm (93 11/16 x 73 5/8 x 5 1/8 in.); Unframed: 200.2 x 149.2 cm (78 13/16 x 58 3/4 in.)
• Collection: P - Italian 16th & 17th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1951.334

Collection credit

Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cochin, Charles Nicolas, Henry Swinburne, and Charles-Antoine Jombert. Voyage d'Italie ou, Recueil de notes sur les ouvrages de peinture & de sculpture, qu'on voit dans les principales villes d'Italie. Paris, France: 1758.
• Thieme, Ulrich, Felix Becker, Fred. C. Willis, and Hans Vollmer. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Leipzig, Germany: W. Engelmann, 1907
• Mostra della pittura italiana del Seicento e del Settecento, 1922. Catalogo. Roma, Italy: Bestetti e Tumminelli, 1922.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.