Saint Jerome reading in the wilderness

Michele da Verona was a pupil of Domenico Morone, together with the latter’s son, Francesco. He absorbed the legacy of Andrea Mantegna while in Morone’s workshop, an influence that is evident throughout his career. He also showed a knowledge of Venetian painters of the time, such as Vittore Carpaccio, Giovanni Bellini and Antonello da Messina. A ‘maestro’ by 1497, his first signed and dated painting is the monumental Crucifixion of 1501 for the church of San Giorgio in Braida, Verona, now in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

We are grateful to Professor Mauro Lucco for proposing the attribution on the basis of photographs, and for dating the picture to the first decade of the 16th century.