성모자와 성 예로니모

Pinturicchio painted this little devotional panel in 1481, just as his career was about to change. Within a year he would be in Rome, helping Perugino fresco the walls of the new Sistine Chapel for the pope. Here he is still the Umbrian miniaturist, working small and fine, with a soft green landscape opening behind the figures. The subject is an unusual one. The Christ child is not playing or blessing but writing in an open book, a quiet reference to the belief that he is the true author of scripture. To the right, Saint Jerome stands in the red robes of a cardinal and sets another book on the Virgin's marble throne. The whole panel is under 50 centimetres tall, made to be looked at closely, in prayer.