Landscape with St Jerome
ca 1520
Step into a Renaissance wilderness where the legendary St Jerome is having a very close encounter with a lion. The bearded saint kneels in the foreground, likely performing his most famous miracle: removing a thorn from the lion's paw, which turned the fierce beast into his lifelong companion. Campagnola fills the rest of the scene with a breathtaking, detailed landscape of rolling hills, textured trees, and a tiny ship on the horizon, proving that background scenery was becoming a star attraction in 16th-century art. It's a perfect snapshot of how artists of this era blended religious storytelling with a deep love for the natural world.