Despite the Renaissance fascination with beauty and realism, a number of the works created
display a preoccupation with some terrible moments of human suffering. My understanding is
that this focus on heightened realism and vivid storytelling is shaped by the Renaissance artist’s
awareness of how to move the beholder’s eye. My Smarthistory Final Project will examine the
aesthetics of violence in the work of the Florentine artist Andrea del Castagno, who painted a
vivid fresco of the Vision of St. Jerome between Saints Paula and Eustachium, c. 1454, in the
Church of the Santissima Annunziata. The artist has used dramatic, almost disorienting details
of extreme foreshortening in this work. The vertical axis between the vision of the holy Trinity,
with the densely compressed bodies of God the Father, dove of the Holy Spirit, and crucified
Christ appear to connect downwards towards the raised head of St. Jerome. Jerome is about to
strike his body yet again with a heavy rock, presumably in his chest area, as suggested by his
opened shirt. His torso shows traces of blood that drips down onto his shirt; his gaunt face and
body indicate an intensity of interior experience. Balance is created in this work by the two
heavy draped figures of Paula and Eustachium, female saints who also gaze with rapt attention
up to the vision of the Trinity. [220 words]
Draft Thesis Statement:
In this Smarthistory Final Project, I will employ visual analysis of a radically realistic work
showing St. Jerome in mystical connection with a vision of the Trinity above his head. My
analysis will investigate the various elements in the fresco that contribute to an intense
aesthetics of violence within the image. Using Michael Baxandall’s notion of the period eye, I
will suggest that these hyper-realistic elements were used to intensify a Renaissance beholder’s
experience, relying on the power of monumental, realistic standing saints, each one an
individual icon to meditate upon in terms of creating a connection to the divine.
[100 words]
Research Questions:
- How did Renaissance viewers understand the tension between beauty and violence, as
represented in an image like this? - How does the image’s realism heighten the intense emotion being portrayed for a viewer?
- In terms of gender balance, is it possible that these two monumental female saints represent
two calm, balancing elements in terms of how the artist has set them up to bracket the power
and ferocity of St Jerome and his lion?