Saint Jerome

Hendrick ter Brugghen (1588-1629) was a Dutch painter known as one of the leading painters of the Utrecht Caravaggisti, whose dramatic religious paintings in the manner of Caravaggio made him one of the most important painters of the Dutch Caravaggisti movement. Saint Jerome from c. 1621 depicts the saint in the dramatic, chiaroscuro manner that ter Brugghen developed from his study of Caravaggio during his years in Rome. The c. 1621 date places this in ter Brugghen's most productive period after his return from Rome, when he was producing the dramatic religious paintings in the Caravaggist manner that are his most important works.

Saint Jerome is important in the history of Dutch painting because it demonstrates the Caravaggist manner that ter Brugghen brought to the Netherlands after his years in Rome. The Utrecht Caravaggisti—ter Brugghen, van Honthorst, and van Baburen—introduced the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio to Dutch painting, creating a type of religious painting that was simultaneously dramatic in lighting and naturalistic in execution, and the c. 1621 painting shows this type at its most accomplished.

Saint Jerome is ter Brugghen's Dutch Caravaggism: the saint rendered in the dramatic chiaroscuro manner that he brought to the Netherlands from his study of Caravaggio in Rome. The c. 1621 painting shows one of the most important painters of the Utrecht Caravaggisti at his most dramatic and naturalistic.