Heilige Hieronymus in zijn studeervertrek 1495 - 1516

Curator: Look at the stark portrayal of knowledge and asceticism. Here we have "Saint Jerome in His Study," an engraving by Jacopo de' Barbari, likely completed between 1495 and 1516. Editor: There’s a tangible vulnerability to it. The lean physique, the furrowed brow, he's wrestling with something difficult, but I suppose that could be an occupational hazard for any intellectual? Curator: The image is full of established symbolism; the skull suggests mortality. The compass? Knowledge or perhaps divine geometry. I can almost feel the weight of scholarly tradition. Editor: I agree about tradition. But it is a male intellectual tradition. This feels so deeply ingrained in centuries of excluding diverse perspectives. And look how Jerome is rendered—the exposed, aging body. There is this weird relationship with the idea of scholarly vulnerability alongside the expectation of this almost godlike genius. Curator: I do think there's more to this apparent exposure. This stripped-down depiction of Jerome references his life as a desert hermit. That very act of removing himself, of existing outside conventional society, became vital to his cultural image. This allowed him to focus, it created a potent symbol. Editor: Symbol, sure, but a constructed one. Even this ‘escape’ reinforces a patriarchal tradition that demands total renunciation to ascend some sort of ladder of male, intellectual recognition. I wonder if seeing his body aged in this way, it wasn't to reveal more broadly these systemic pressures put on all individuals of learning during the Renaissance era. Curator: Certainly, one can read it that way. Regardless of de Barbari’s intentions, Jerome persists as an enduring figure precisely because he seems to embody that quest, in the image there is this almost palpable humanistic yearning to decode the world around him, and by extension, our place within it. Editor: Perhaps... at the very least it provides this visceral reminder that intellectual labor happens in real bodies within specific power dynamics. That tension is a crucial place for continued engagement.