Saint Jerome in His Study

Of Dürer's three technically brilliant Meisterstiche (master engravings) of 1513 and 1514, this is the one whose interpretation seems the most straightforward. Saint Jerome, translator of the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate) and thus the exemplar of the Christian scholar, is seated in a typical study of Dürer's day. He works peacefully at a slanted writing table, and his lion and dog slumber equally peacefully in the foreground. The light of his halo and the sunlight pouring in through the windows are in perfect equilibrium, and recurrent horizontals in the composition add to the pervasive sense of repose and harmony.