Jerome

Jerome is perhaps most famous for translating the Bible into Latin. This was a crucial step for the spread of Christianity at that time, with so few people multi-lingual.

The panel itself is moulded in bronze with gilt added, much of which remains present today. The doors were originally displayed outside and this heavily impacted the preservation of these panel artworks. In more recent years efforts have been improved in protecting the key contributions to the Renaissance, with frescoes cleaned and sculptures brought indoors.

Lorenzo Ghiberti's career in considered very significant in the Early Renaissance and his two twin door projects were particularly important. The two are known as his north doors and Gates of Paradise, with the latter being given this nickname by Michelangelo some years later. The majority of his panels for the north doors are devoted to the life of Jesus Christ but some of the ones towards the end of this series capture other important indivuduals such as John, Matthew, Luke, Mark and as seen here, Jerome.

Jerome was born in the region of modern day Croatia and Albania, and was clearly a talented individual who was a respected priest, confessor, theologian and historian. He also is known for considerable numbers of writings on the gospels which again connected him strongly to religious discussions and theory.