The Holy Family with Saint Jerome 1519

Correggio painted "The Holy Family with Saint Jerome" in oil on wood panel sometime in the early 16th century, during the Italian High Renaissance. Here we see the conventional religious image of the Madonna and Child, but Correggio has included Saint Jerome as a key figure. Saint Jerome had translated the Bible into Latin in the 4th Century, and in this painting he is shown offering his work to the infant Jesus, in the presence of Mary and Joseph. The painting was probably commissioned by a religious order, perhaps for use as an altarpiece. During the Renaissance, religious orders were powerful institutions that controlled not only churches and monasteries, but also schools and hospitals. They commissioned much of the art of this period, making it a powerful tool for the church. Studying the patronage of religious orders in Renaissance Italy can tell us much about the role of images in the cultural life of the time.