Saint Jerome, Quattrocento fresco

Fresco, northern Italy, mid 15th century, depicting Saint Jerome in his study.
Our fresco, transposed by the strappo technique, is in a perfect state of conservation.
Work carried out according to the recommendations of the Italian conservation institutes, the strappo consists in tearing the fresco from the wall and refixing it on a neutral support.
Commonly done in Venice to save frescoes from capillary rise and put back in their place on canvas frames, this technique has saved masterpieces from definitive destruction.
Saint Jerome, the father of the humanists, is represented here at his study.
Saint Jerome, Doctor and Father of the Church of the 4th and 5th centuries, is recognisable by several elements. First of all, the purple cardinal's garb, cloak, skullcap, and wide-brimmed cardinal's hat, had been given to him by pictorial tradition, as personal adviser to Pope Damasus I.