Minneapolis Institute of Art

Saint Jerome in Penitence

Albrecht Dürer

Date

c. 1496–97

Medium

Engraving

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

As a desert hermit, Jerome learned Hebrew from a monk (a convert from Judaism) to distract him from his sexual appetites. When that didn't work, he turned to self-torture, which is why he often holds a rock. Said his friend Saint Augustine, Three times every day he beat his flesh so hard that rivers of blood flowed from his body. In this early print, Albrecht Dürer used Jerome's exile as an opportunity to render the fantastic art of nature that he found in the Alpine landscape. Germany, Europe

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