Saint Jerome in His Study

1514 · Print · 24.6 × 18.5 cm

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Saint Jerome in His Study” now? Collection: Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Minneapolis, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 12 days ago
In this state since: Sep 25, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the work

This engraving has always been regarded as one of Albrecht Dürer’s masterpieces. The scholarly Saint Jerome (c. 347–420 CE) diligently translates the Bible while sitting in his cozy study. He is accompanied by a lion who became his faithful companion when Jerome removed a thorn from its paw. Besides being kind to animals, Jerome was humble yet tremendously learned, able to translate the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin, a language everyday people could read. Dürer treats us to a spectacular display of light entering through tiny round window panes. Jerome’s halo flares even brighter. The metaphorical connection between physical light and spiritual enlightenment is inescapable.

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Details

Accession number: P.68.145

In the catalog

Prints Engraving Renaissance 16th century Germany

Sources

Minneapolis Institute of Art
Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art — public domain

In the life of Albrecht Dürer

The whole life

1507–1528 · Workplace
Nuremberg
1512
Emperor Maximilian I becomes his chief patron
From 1512 Emperor Maximilian I was Dürer's chief patron. For him Dürer and his workshop produced the Triumphal Arch, a giant woodcut 295 × 357 cm printed from 192 blocks and modelled on the triumphal arches of ancient Rome.
3 January 1512
Nuremberg's privilege against forgeries
Nuremberg's city council granted Dürer a privilege for the sale of his prints, with penalties for anyone who forged them.
1513–1516
Three years without painting
Complaining that painting did not pay enough to justify the time compared with his prints, Dürer produced no paintings from 1513 to 1516.
1514
Death of his mother
In the year of Melencolia I and St Jerome in His Study, the artist's mother, Barbara Holper, died.
1515
A life pension from the emperor
The perpetually cash-strapped Maximilian could not pay on time and offered to exempt the artist from city taxes, which the Nuremberg Council opposed. At Dürer's request the emperor granted him a life pension of 100 guilders a year from the sums Nuremberg paid into the imperial treasury.