Saint Jerome
Medium
Pen and brown ink, over traces of black chalk, heightened with touches of lead white (discolored), on tan laid paper
Dimensions
26.7 × 21.3 cm (10 9/16 × 8 7/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
85084
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Bartolomeo Passarotti’s *Saint Jerome* showcases the refined draftsmanship of a leading 16th-century Bolognese artist. Working in pen and brown ink over faint black chalk, with touches of lead white on tan laid paper, Passarotti creates a lively study that balances precise line work with subtle tonal modeling. The compact sheet, just over 10 by 8 inches, rewards close viewing as the artist explores the textures of drapery, flesh, and attributes associated with the scholarly saint. Drawings of this kind occupied an important place in Renaissance workshop practice. They served both as preparatory exercises and as independent works prized by collectors for their immediacy and skill. Passarotti’s energetic handling of the pen reflects the lively artistic culture of Bologna, where artists trained the eye and hand through rapid studies of religious and everyday subjects alike. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection, the work offers today’s visitors an intimate encounter with the materials and techniques that shaped Counter-Reformation imagery. The combination of media—ink for definition, chalk for underdrawing, and white heightening for luminosity—reveals how artists transformed simple paper into vivid devotional images.
About the Artist
Bartolomeo Passarotti · 1529–1592
Comment on works: History, Portraits