Girolamo da Treviso the Younger
1530
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Saint Jerome and Saint Catherine of Alexandria Standing in a Landscape is a 1530 by Girolamo da Treviso the Younger, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see two saints standing in a quiet, hilly landscape. Saint Jerome holds a book and has a small lion at his feet. Saint Catherine leans on a broken wheel. This is a *sacre conversazione*—a "sacred conversation." It’s not a real chat, just saints sharing space in a peaceful scene. The artist drew it first as a practice sketch for a bigger painting in a church. The lion is barely there, like a quick doodle. Look up *sfumato* to see how other artists softened edges like this.
Girolamo da Treviso the Younger created this drawing as a preparatory design for a painting while working in Bologna at the Church of Santissimo Salvatore. The type of composition is known as a sacre conversazione (sacred conversation). Invented in Venice, this genre featured saints within expansive landscapes sharing a contemplative presence. Saint Jerome’s attribute, a lion, is loosely sketched with brush and ink, while the figures are carefully composed with a mix of ink, ink wash, and white highlights on colored paper, giving them a monumental, sculptural appearance.
After working in Bologna from 1523 to 1538, the artist was invited to the court of King Henry VIII of England, where he became a military engineer and was killed during the English siege of Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1544.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Girolamo da Treviso (Treviso, 1498 – Boulogne-sur-Mer, September 10, 1544), also known as Girolamo di Tommaso da Treviso the Younger and Girolamo Trevigi, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and painter in Henry VIII's court in England.
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