Saint Jerome c. 1630 - 1635

Curator: This is Guido Reni’s "Saint Jerome," a small etching residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Bleak, isn't it? Stripped down. You feel the bones through the skin, and the whole world feels etched down to essentials. Curator: Reni, born in 1575, worked in Bologna and Rome, and was a master of printmaking, like this one, which allowed for wider dissemination of his compositions, a kind of early mass production. Editor: I see him wrestling not just with scripture, but with the very grit of existence. That cross and book—they're heavy. Curator: The etching process itself—the biting of the metal plate with acid—mirrors Jerome's own asceticism, stripping away the superfluous to reveal the core. Editor: Absolutely. It's like Reni used the acid to burn away the easy answers, leaving us with raw faith. I like that. Curator: Thinking about printmaking's role then allows us to see it not just as devotional art, but also as a commodity circulated within a growing market for images. Editor: So, devotion made portable. Fascinating. Curator: Indeed. Editor: A small piece, but it contains so much of the world.