Artwork
The Vision of Saint Jerome
The Vision of Saint Jerome is an oil painting by the Early Baroque Italian artist Giovan Battista Langetti. It dates from 1660 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Executed in oil on canvas, the piece belongs to the religious genre and was produced in Italy before entering the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.
The Vision of Saint Jerome, painted by Giovan Battista Langetti in 1660, portrays the saint in a moment of spiritual vision, a subject identified in the work’s catalog records. Executed in oil on canvas, the piece belongs to the religious genre and was produced in Italy before entering the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. Its iconography aligns with Counter‑Baroque tendencies, emphasizing intense inner experience and penitential devotion.
By focusing on Jerome’s imagined ecstasy, the composition conveys a theological narrative of divine inspiration, reflecting the period’s fascination with saintly visions.
Technique & Style
The Vision of Saint Jerome is an oil painting on canvas, measuring 200.2 by 149.2 centimeters. Executed in 1660 by Giovan Battista Langetti, the work belongs to the religious genre and exemplifies the Italian Baroque tradition. The artist employed oil paint on canvas support, a standard medium for large-scale devotional works of the period that allowed for rich color saturation and dramatic tonal effects.
The substantial dimensions suggest it was intended for significant display, likely in a church or religious institution. Langetti's handling of the medium would have facilitated the intense emotional expression and dynamic composition characteristic of Baroque religious painting, though specific details of brushwork and surface condition are not recorded in the available sources.
History & Provenance
Created in 1660 by the Italian artist Giovan Battista Langetti, this oil on canvas painting depicts the religious subject of Saint Jerome. The work was produced in Italy during the mid-seventeenth century, aligning with Langetti's active period between 1635 and 1676. While specific details regarding the original commission or intermediate ownership history are not provided in the available records, the painting eventually entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
It is currently held by this institution under the accession number 1951.334, indicating its acquisition or cataloging by the museum in 1951. The physical dimensions of the work are recorded as approximately 200.2 centimeters in height and 149.2 centimeters in width.
The Vision of Saint Jerome (1660) by Giovan Battista Langetti is held at the Cleveland Museum of Art, inventoried as 1951.334. The painting first entered the museum’s collection in 1951 through acquisition. It has not been recorded as loaned to major traveling exhibitions in the available sources.
Overview
Giovan Battista Langetti's 1660 oil painting, The Vision of Saint Jerome, captures a dramatic religious encounter. This work, characteristic of the early Italian Baroque, depicts the titular saint in a moment of profound revelation or terror. Langetti, an Italian painter active across several major cities, employed a powerful visual language to convey the intensity of the spiritual experience. It is currently housed at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Giovanni Battista Langetti (1635 – 22 October 1676), also known as Giambattista Langetti, was an Italian late-Baroque painter. He was active in his native Genoa, then Rome, and finally for the longest period in Venice.
