Saint Andrew and Saint Jerome

The men who managed the Venetian Republic's money worked in the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, by the Rialto bridge, and it was a custom that a magistrate, on finishing his term, would leave behind a painting of his name-saint for the office walls. This canvas comes from that custom. Behind it were two finance officials, Andrea Dandolo and Girolamo Bernardo, who left their posts in the autumn of 1552, so Tintoretto pairs Saint Andrew, patron of Andrea, leaning on the slanted cross of his martyrdom, with Saint Jerome, patron of Girolamo, the scholar who turned the Bible into Latin. The two figures are heavy, muscular, close to the picture plane, the manner that was making the young painter's reputation. Jerome is the gaunt old hermit at the right, with the lion that legend says he tamed by pulling a thorn from its paw.