The Dream of Saint Jerome
1476
tempera
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
About the artist
Artist
Matteo di Giovanni
Matteo di Giovanni (1435–1495) was an artist, born in Sansepolcro.
See the richer artist page1476
tempera
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
The Dream of Saint Jerome is a 1476 tempera by Matteo di Giovanni, a Early Renaissance work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
The painting shows Saint Jerome having a dream. He's being punished by a heavenly council. This scene is interesting because it depicts a key moment in Saint Jerome's life, showing his preference for ancient texts over the Bible. The heavenly council is a dramatic element in this scene. The painting's details are worth looking at closely. You can learn more about this style by looking at the technique: tempera.
This painting and its companion, Saint Augustine’s Vision , depict scenes from the life of Saint Jerome, the scholar credited with translating the Bible from Hebrew into Latin, a more widely known language at the time, so that more people would be able to read it. The first scene shows Jerome’s dream of being punished by a heavenly council for preferring ancient Greek and Roman texts to the Christian Bible. In the second painting, Saint Augustine is composing Jerome’s eulogy when he is interrupted by a vision of the saint accompanied by John the Baptist, who praises Jerome as his equal.
Placidi altarpiece, Chapel of Saint Jerome, Church of San Domenico, Siena, from 1476 until the dismemberment of the altarpiece sometime between 1784 and 1803 [Trimpi 1983 identified this painting, 1933.1019, and The Crucifixion, now in a private collection, as from the predella of the altarpiece on the basis of Mons. Francesco Bossio, Visita apostolica (1575), Siena, Archivio Arcivescovile, MS. 21, fol. 678r–678v, and an August 23, 1803 inventory of pictures from San Domenico in the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Archivio di Stato Biccherna 1089, fol. 459r–460v]. Possibly removed to Palazzo…
London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Pictures of the School of Siena and Examples of the Minor Arts of That City, 1904, no. 38. The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, 1934, no. 32. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Painting in Renaissance Siena, 1420–1500, December 20, 1988 – March 19, 1989, no. 49a. Atlanta, GA, High Museum of Art, The “Gates of Paradise”: Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Renaissance Masterpiece, April 28-July 15, 2007; Art Institute of Chicago, July 28-October 13, 2007; Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 30, 2007-January 13, 2008 [Chicago Only]. London, National…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Matteo di Giovanni (1435–1495) was an artist, born in Sansepolcro.
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