Saint Jerome

Giovanni di Niccolò Mansueti, Saint Jerome in a Landscape, late 14th - early 15th c., oil on canvas, 50.8 x 71.1 cm, Bristol Museums, Bristol

Jerome (c. 341-420) spent his early life studying rhetoric with scholars and theologians, then became a monk and lived as a hermit for four years.  Later, he became the scretary to the Pope and translated the Bible from Greek texts.  It is debated whether or not he was ever a cardinal.

There are two main depictions of Saint Jerome:  living as a hermit in the wilderness (at times beating himself on the chest with a rock), or dressed as a cardinal and writing in his cell.