The Temptation of Saint Jerome

The Temptation of Saint Jerome — Giorgio Vasari. 1541/48.

Medium: Oil on panel. Dimensions: 166.5 × 121.9 cm (65 1/2 × 48 in.); Framed: 203.9 × 161.3 × 15.3 cm (80 1/4 × 63 1/2 × 6 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Best known for his Lives of the Artists , a monumental compendium of biographies, Giorgio Vasari was a successful architect and a prolific painter for the Medici dukes of Florence. As a learned artist, he imparted an allegorical element to this frequently depicted episode from the life of Saint Jerome. The saint—a scholar, translator of the Bible, and advocate of monasticism—vividly described the tempting visions that assailed him when he retreated to the desert to meditate. In this painting, Jerome contemplates a crucifix; his visions are personified as Venus, the goddess of love, accompanied by cupids. Although Venus seems to flee, one of the troublesome cupids still aims his arrow at the saint. The work is unfinished: the black-chalk grid, used as aid in enlarging and transferring the preparatory drawing onto the panel, is still visible through the initial thinly applied paint layers.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.