St. Jerome Reading in an Italian Landscape — About This Work
Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1653
About the Work
Rembrandt places Saint Jerome at the edge of a vast landscape rather than enclosing him in a scholar’s study. The saint sits beneath a dark tree at the left, absorbed in reading, while his traditional companion, the lion, stands nearby. A road winds away towards buildings in the distance, allowing the small devotional figure to become part of a much larger imagined world.
The print combines etching, engraving and drypoint, techniques Rembrandt used together to create unusually varied effects of line and tone. Dense passages of shadow around Jerome and the tree contrast with the more open treatment of the distant landscape. The result is both intimate and expansive: close inspection reveals the activity of the printed line, while the composition leads the eye far beyond the saint himself.
Made around 1653, the work survives here in the second of two states. The Cleveland Museum of Art records the sheet at 26 × 21.1 cm. Its modest size is integral to the encounter: this is a work that rewards close looking rather than enlargement into a conventional decorative format.
The Work
Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn
Title: St. Jerome Reading in an Italian Landscape
Date: c. 1653
Medium: Etching, engraving, and drypoint on cream laid paper
Recorded dimensions: 21.1 × 26 cm
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession number: 1926.470
Print & Presentation
Palatine presentation: 30 × 30 cm.
The complete artwork is reproduced without cropping or distortion. Where the authoritative source image differs slightly in aspect ratio from the recorded physical dimensions, Palatine preserves the source-image proportions rather than stretching the work to force both recorded dimensions simultaneously.
The surrounding presentation area is incorporated into the print rather than added as a separate mount.
Frame finishes: Black, White or Natural.
Paper & glazing: Enhanced Matte + Perspex; Enhanced Matte + Moth-Eye.
Why Original Scale?
Most art-print shops offer the same image in a choice of Small, Medium and Large sizes. We take a different approach. For each edition, we begin with the recorded dimensions of the original work and preserve the complete image and its proportions, avoiding arbitrary resizing, cropping or distortion.
Source: Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
Care: Display in a dry interior away from prolonged direct sunlight and sources of moisture.
Notes from Palatine
If you would like to stay with us, Notes from Palatine is an occasional letter about newly added works, artists and the thinking behind the collection. There is no fixed schedule; we write when there is something worth sharing.
Palatine Editions · Original Scale Editions · palatineeditions.com