by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
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Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio: The Malta Painting
Saint Jerome leans over his writing at a table, with a skull nearby and red cloth around his ageing body. This is Caravaggio's Saint Jerome Writing preserved at St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta. The cathedral foundation names it alongside The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist as the two Caravaggio paintings made during his Maltese stay and still held there.[1]
The page address ends “1607”, but a cathedral foundation project account says Fra Ippolito Malaspina commissioned the Jerome in 1608. Scholarship has dated its execution around 1607–08; a single exact year is less secure than the Malta context. This is a different canvas from the Borghese Saint Jerome Writing and the Montserrat Penitent Saint Jerome.[1][2][3]
Caravaggio in context
The Cardsharps
c.1595Calling of Saint Matthew
1599–1600Supper at Emmaus
1601At a Glance
- ArtistCaravaggio, cathedral foundation attribution[1]
- TitleSaint Jerome Writing[1]
- Datearound 1607–08; foundation dates Malaspina's commission to 1608[2][4]
- CollectionSt John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta[1]
- PatronFra Ippolito Malaspina in the foundation's project account[2]
- Compositionageing Jerome writes at a table with skull and red cloth; distinct from Borghese's broad outstretched-pen composition[1][3]
- Material/sizecommonly recorded as oil on canvas, about 117 × 157 cm; the cited cathedral page does not confirm an item-level measurement[4]
- Later historystolen from the co-cathedral in 1984 and recovered, an episode documented by Heritage Malta[5]
Contents
- Jerome at His Desk in Malta
- Malaspina and the Order
- The Date behind the Route
- Mortality and the Task of Writing
- Theft, Recovery and Display
- The Borghese and Montserrat Comparisons
- What the Curator Saw in the Painting
- Frequently Asked Questions
Jerome at His Desk in Malta
Jerome bends over a book or writing surface with close attention. His bare upper body and red cloth keep the saint physically present, while the skull beside him reminds viewers of death. The composition is concentrated on solitary labour. There is no angel and no crowd; the saint's attention remains on writing.[1]
Jerome is traditionally linked to the Latin translation of the Bible. Artists could show him as a penitent with a skull or as a scholar with pen and text. The Malta painting brings those identities close. The ageing body and skull sit beside the work of learning. A reader need not know a precise manuscript page to understand that tension.[1][3]
The setting is spare, but not empty in effect. The table, red drapery and skull give the eye a route through the painting. Caravaggio makes work and mortality visible with very few objects; Jerome's writing hand adds another point of attention.
Malaspina and the Order
The co-cathedral foundation says the picture was commissioned by Fra Ippolito Malaspina in 1608. Malaspina was a member of the Order of Saint John, the community with which Caravaggio worked in Malta. The painting belongs to the same brief phase as the co-cathedral's monumental Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.[1][2]
Patronage is a firmer historical point than many psychological readings of the picture. The foundation identifies a commissioner; it does not report a transcript of Malaspina's wishes. A reader can consider how Jerome's discipline might have appealed to a religious-military patron without claiming that the painting is a direct self-portrait of Malaspina's state of mind.
The co-cathedral's former curator Cynthia de Giorgio connects the painting to Malaspina's coat of arms. She argues that it probably first hung in his private Valletta residence and passed to St John's after his death in 1624. That proposed route is more specific than the foundation's later statement naming him as commissioner, but the residence and transfer remain her reconstruction rather than a surviving delivery receipt.[2][4]
The Order's Valletta setting also links this page to the Louvre portrait of Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt. Both were made amid Caravaggio's Maltese commissions, but the Louvre portrait serves a public leadership image and the Jerome a more inward devotional subject.[6]
The Date behind the Route
The inherited 1607 suffix reflects one dating tradition. De Giorgio places the painting between Caravaggio's arrival in Malta in autumn 1607 and work on the large Beheading. The cathedral foundation's more recent project statement specifies 1608 for Malaspina's commission. These sources support around 1607–08, while leaving an exact execution sequence unsettled.[2][4]
The distinction matters because a commission year and a completion year need not be identical. The available record does not establish an exact day on which the paint dried. The title can keep the historical route for stable links while the article uses a cautious working date.
The foundation records Caravaggio's expulsion from the Order in December 1608, in front of the Beheading. That event provides a terminus for his institutional relationship, not proof that the Jerome was painted immediately beforehand.[1]
Mortality and the Task of Writing
The skull belongs to Jerome's long pictorial tradition of contemplation of death. In the Malta work, it sits close to the saint's working hands. The relationship can be read as a reminder that scholarly labour occurs under the pressure of time. The red fabric, exposed flesh and dark surrounding space make that idea more immediate than an abstract emblem would.[1][3]
The painting does not identify the exact biblical text being translated. Even if a book is visible, a small reproduction does not provide a reliable transcription. The most useful reading begins with what can be seen: an old man concentrating, a skull near the writing, and a carefully arranged field of light and shadow.
The scene is not an illustration of the Burial of Saint Lucy or another public Maltese/Sicilian narrative. It is a single saint's activity. Caravaggio's ability to give such an activity visual weight is part of the painting's appeal.
Theft, Recovery and Display
Heritage Malta remembers Fr Marius Zerafa's role in recovering the painting after it was stolen in 1984 from St John's Co-Cathedral. De Giorgio's 2006 essay gives 1985 instead, an apparent year discrepancy, and describes conservation after recovery at Rome's Istituto Centrale del Restauro. Her condition discussion reports thinned paint in places and raises the possibility that some background architectural detail has been lost. The condition claim is her assessment, not a licence to reconstruct the missing appearance.[4][5]
The painting's recovery means the original is again in the cathedral's care. The foundation's project update discusses a Saint Jerome Hall in its Caravaggio Wing, planned to make the work visible to visitors. That dated plan does not guarantee the same display room on every visit, so current cathedral information should be checked before travelling.[1][2]
The theft also reinforces why collection identity and file provenance matter. A photograph found on another website may show the Malta painting, but an ad-supported publication needs a traceable image source, photographer credit and permitted-use terms. A small inherited JPEG cannot be treated as a newly cleared master.
The Borghese and Montserrat Comparisons
The Borghese Jerome is a horizontal 116 × 153 cm painting dated about 1606 by its owner. Its saint reaches a pen toward an inkwell across a table, with book and skull opposite. The Rome picture belongs to the Borghese collection and has its own early Scipione evidence and unfinishedness debate.[3]
The Montserrat Jerome is titled Penitent Saint Jerome by its owner and dated 1605. It is taller, 145.5 × 101.5 cm, and focuses on the saint contemplating a skull. These distinctions give a reader straightforward visual and institutional checks before trusting a generic “Caravaggio Saint Jerome” image.[7]
The Maltese painting shares a writing subject with Rome and red cloth with both, but similarity does not establish a copy relationship or transfer another museum's inventory number. Any detailed comparison should state which source supports each fact.
What the Curator Saw in the Painting
De Giorgio, writing as curator of the co-cathedral and museum, describes more than the familiar skull and red cloth. She identifies an inkpot held tightly in one hand, the start of a letter on the page, and a stone, crucifix and unlit candle near the table's edge. The candle is particularly telling: it is present but cannot account for the strong light on Jerome's face and body. These details help the viewer distinguish a staged meditation on writing and mortality from a simple portrait of a scholar at work.[4]
Her catalogue caption gives 117 × 157 cm, oil on canvas. The cathedral foundation's general page confirms the work's location and attribution but does not provide that item-level measurement. The figure is therefore a published curator's measurement rather than a dimension supplied by the current online collection page.[1][4]
Explore the Caravaggio collection
| Name | Date | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Adoration of the Shepherds by Caravaggio: The Messina Nativity | 1608–09; precise order relative to Resurrection of Lazarus remains unresolved | Artwork |
| Amor Victorious by Caravaggio | 1601–02 in the Berlin owner record | Artwork |
| Bacchus by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painting | about 1598, according to the Uffizi | Artwork |
| Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio | after 1597, probably around the turn of the seventeenth century, according to the Ambrosiana | Artwork |
| Boy Bitten by a Lizard: Caravaggio's London Painting | about 1594–95 in the National Gallery's current catalogue; URL suffix “1596” is inherited | Artwork |
| Boy Bitten by a Lizard: The Florence Version Attributed to Caravaggio | disputed; Longhi's catalogue record preserves historical 1592–93 and other proposed ranges, including c.1597 | Artwork |
| Boy Peeling Fruit by Caravaggio: The Royal Collection Painting | about 1592–93 in the owner's current exhibition record | Artwork |
| Boy Peeling Fruit in Florence: A Derivation from Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| Boy with a Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio | about 1595 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue | Artwork |
| Caravaggio Paintings in Rome: Churches, Museums and a Practical Route | — | Guide |
| Caravaggio Quotes: What the Documents Actually Record | — | Guide |
| Caravaggio's Lute Player: The Del Monte Painting Once Shown at the Met | about 1596–97 in the Met catalogue | Artwork |
| Caravaggio's Painting Technique: Grounds, Incisions, Revisions and Light | — | Guide |
| Christ at the Column by Caravaggio: The Rouen Flagellation | c.1606 in the owner caption; owner prose gives 1606–07 | Artwork |
| Christ on the Mount of Olives by Caravaggio: The Lost Berlin Painting | — | Artwork |
| Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio | about 1601 in the Roma Capitale church record | Artwork |
| Crowning with Thorns by Caravaggio: The Vienna Painting | about 1603 in the 2019 KHM record; “1607” is an inherited URL suffix | Artwork |
| Crowning with Thorns in Prato: Attributed to Caravaggio | about 1602–03 in the collection presentation | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Borghese Painting | 1606–07 or 1609–10 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue; the later Naples period is favoured by many scholars, while the owner keeps the question open | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Prado Painting | about 1600 in Prado material; “1599” survives only in the legacy URL | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Vienna Painting | about 1600–01 in the KHM's 2019 exhibition record; “1607” is a legacy route label | Artwork |
| Did Caravaggio Make Drawings? What Survives and What Paintings Reveal | — | Guide |
| Ecce Homo: Caravaggio's Madrid Rediscovery and the Genoa Painting | — | Artwork |
| John the Baptist in Caravaggio's Paintings: A Guide to the Different Versions | — | Artwork |
| Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio | beginning of the seventeenth century in the owning museum's account; about 1599–1600 in the Kimbell's 2025 loan label; around 1602 in one specialist catalogue | Artwork |
| Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto: Caravaggio's Ludovisi Ceiling | about 1597; the archive connects the work with Cardinal del Monte's 1597 commission | Artwork |
| Madonna and Child with Saint Anne by Caravaggio: The Palafrenieri Altarpiece | 1605 in the Galleria Borghese object field; completed and delivered by 8 April 1606 | Artwork |
| Madonna of Loreto by Caravaggio: The Pilgrims at Sant'Agostino | broadly c.1604–06; institutional records differ slightly in their starting year | Artwork |
| Madonna of the Rosary by Caravaggio: The Vienna Altarpiece | around 1603 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum's object record | Artwork |
| Martha and Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio: The Detroit Painting | about 1598 in the Detroit Institute of Arts record | Artwork |
| Medusa by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painted Shield | 1596–98 in the Uffizi's virtual exhibition; specialist research reports the shield delivered to the Medici wardrobe by 7 September 1598 | Artwork |
| Narcissus, Attributed to Caravaggio | dependent on attribution; the Zeri catalogue gives a broad 1610–50 range under Spadarino | Artwork |
| Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence: Caravaggio's Missing Painting | somewhere in 1600–09 in the parliamentary report; a specific 1609 execution and place remain debated | Artwork |
| Penitent Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio | 1597 in the owner's catalogue, during Caravaggio's early Roman activity | Artwork |
| Portrait of a Courtesan: Caravaggio's Lost Berlin Portrait | Berlin's data field says c.1590, while its own text compares a Caravaggio work of c.1598; precise date unresolved | Artwork |
| Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and His Page by Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| Portrait of Fra Antonio Martelli? Caravaggio's Pitti Knight of Malta | 1608 in the Restituzioni object heading; within Caravaggio's Malta period | Artwork |
| Portrait of Maffeo Barberini: The Seated Corsini Painting | c.1596–97 in the national catalogue | Artwork |
| Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini: Caravaggio's Newly Acquired Painting | around the late 1590s / age thirty; “1598” in the inherited address is approximate, not an exact document date | Artwork |
| Portrait of Pope Paul V: A Caravaggio Attribution and a Borghese Copy | — | Artwork |
| Prints After Caravaggio: Who Made Them and What They Show | — | Guide |
| Reclining Saint John the Baptist: A Disputed Caravaggio Attribution | often proposed for the artist's final years; the later museum list does not give a precise year. | Artwork |
| Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Caravaggio | about 1597 in the owner's catalogue | Artwork |
| Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Caravaggio: The Thyssen Painting | about 1598–99 in the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza catalogue | Artwork |
| Saint Francis in Meditation by Caravaggio: The Cremona Painting | 1603–06 in the owner account; c.1605–06 in a KHM exhibition caption | Artwork |
| Saint Francis in Prayer: Caravaggio's Carpineto Painting | 1606 in a 2016–17 exhibition work list | Artwork |
| Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy by Caravaggio | c.1595–96 in the owner wall text | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome in Meditation: Caravaggio's Montserrat Painting | 1605 in the owner record; an owner publication reports scholarship placing it about 1605–06 | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio: The Borghese Painting | c.1606 in the owner catalogue; the “1605” URL suffix is inherited | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio: The Malta Painting | around 1607–08; foundation dates Malaspina's commission to 1608 | Artwork |
| Saint John in the Wilderness at Toledo Cathedral | exact 1598 not established by the cited cathedral account. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at Galleria Corsini, Rome | about 1606 in the national record; older proposals ranged from the late 1590s onward. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Capitoline Museums, Rome | 1602. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Galleria Borghese | 1609–10 in the current Borghese record. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Spring: The Bonello Painting in Malta | early seventeenth century in the institutional account; a precise 1608 is not established there. | Artwork |
| Saint Matthew and the Angel: Caravaggio's Lost First Altarpiece | — | Artwork |
| Salome Receives the Head of John the Baptist: Caravaggio's London Painting | about 1609–10, likely late Naples period in the Gallery's account | Artwork |
| Salome with the Head of John the Baptist: Caravaggio's Madrid Painting | — | Artwork |
| Sleeping Cupid by Caravaggio: The Painting Made in Malta | about 1608, Malta period | Artwork |
| Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge: Is It by Caravaggio? | — | Artwork |
| Supper at Emmaus (1606): Caravaggio's Brera Painting | — | Artwork |
| The Annunciation by Caravaggio in Nancy | c.1607–10 in the collection record; 1608–10 in the museum's restoration account | Artwork |
| The Basel Saint John the Baptist: Once Labelled Caravaggio, Now Maíno | about 1608–10 in that schedule, rather than the legacy URL's 1600. | Artwork |
| The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio | about 1608; installed in the Oratory on 29 August 1608 | Artwork |
| The Burial of Saint Lucy by Caravaggio in Syracuse | 1608, during Caravaggio's Syracuse stay | Artwork |
| The Calling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | about 1599–1600 | Artwork |
| The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew by Caravaggio | about 1602–04 in the Trust's object text | Artwork |
| The Cardsharps by Caravaggio | about 1596–97 in the Kimbell's current object record | Artwork |
| The Conversion of Saint Paul: Caravaggio's Odescalchi Panel | commissioned in 1600; painted around 1600–01 | Artwork |
| The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew by Caravaggio | 1606–07 | Artwork |
| The Crucifixion of Saint Peter by Caravaggio | about 1601 | Artwork |
| The Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio | commissioned 1601; completed late 1605 or early 1606, according to the Louvre | Artwork |
| The Denial of Saint Peter by Caravaggio | 1610 | Artwork |
| The Doria Pamphilj Saint John the Baptist: A Second Youth with a Ram | linked compositionally to the Capitoline 1602 picture; an exact production year for this canvas is not established by the owner pages used here. | Artwork |
| The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio: The Vatican Deposition | about 1600–04 in Vatican Museums publication material | Artwork |
| The Flagellation of Christ by Caravaggio: The Capodimonte Altarpiece | around 1607, in the first Naples period | Artwork |
| The Fortune Teller by Caravaggio: The Louvre Version and Its Roman Counterpart | — | Artwork |
| The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio | early 1600s in the Met catalogue; no more exact owner date asserted here | Artwork |
| The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio | about 1601 in the SPSG presentation | Artwork |
| The Inspiration of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | usually 1602; also catalogued 1602–03, for the installed final altarpiece | Artwork |
| The Lute Player by Caravaggio: The Hermitage Painting | about 1596 in the Hermitage collection publication; the Hermitage Friends restoration page gives about 1595–96 | Artwork |
| The Magdalen in Ecstasy: Caravaggio, Copies and a Disputed Original | — | Artwork |
| The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | 1599–1600; unveiled with The Calling in 1600 | Artwork |
| The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula by Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| The Musicians by Caravaggio | 1597 | Artwork |
| The Resurrection of Lazarus by Caravaggio in Messina | 1609; delivered 10 June 1609 in the owner account | Artwork |
| The Sacrifice of Isaac by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi: A Former Caravaggio Attribution | about 1615–17 in the Nicholas Hall catalogue; “1598” is an inherited URL label, not the accepted date | Artwork |
| The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painting | about 1603 in the Uffizi catalogue | Artwork |
| The Seven Works of Mercy by Caravaggio | 1606–07, according to the Pio Monte | Artwork |
| The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio: The London Painting | 1601 | Artwork |
| The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio | 1602 | Artwork |
| The Toulouse *Judith Beheading Holofernes*: A Caravaggio Attribution Debate | c.1606–07 if identified with the recorded Naples work; that identification is debated | Artwork |
| Young Sick Bacchus by Caravaggio | about 1595 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue | Artwork |
| Youth with a Ram: Why Caravaggio's Saint John Looks So Unusual | — | Artwork |
No matching pages found.
Discussion
Share a close observation about Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio or a source that clarifies its history.
Which detail changes your reading?
Is there a collection record or document worth comparing?
What remains uncertain?
Join the Conversation
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Malta Saint Jerome Writing?
It is preserved at St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, according to the cathedral foundation.[1]
Was it painted in 1607 or 1608?
Who commissioned it?
The cathedral foundation names Fra Ippolito Malaspina.[2]
Was it stolen?
Yes. Heritage Malta records a 1984 theft and recovery associated with Fr Marius Zerafa.[5]
Is it the Borghese writing Jerome?
No. The Borghese painting is a separate Roman canvas, inventory 056, dated about 1606 by its museum.[3]
References
- St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation, Caravaggio at the co-cathedral.
- St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation, Caravaggio Wing and Malaspina commission update, 2020.
- Galleria Borghese, Saint Jerome, inv. 056.
- University of Malta repository, study of Caravaggio's Maltese Saint Jerome Writing.
- Heritage Malta, remembrance of Fr Marius Zerafa and the 1984 theft/recovery.
- Musée du Louvre, Alof de Wignacourt and his page, INV 57.
- Museu de Montserrat, Penitent Saint Jerome, RN 200.165.
