How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Buy a print or image licence
You can purchase this reproduction
If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
This altarpiece was commissioned for a burial chapel in San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome. However, the political turmoil following the Sack of Rome in 1527 meant that it was never installed there. According to the art biographer Vasari, Parmigianino was working on this picture when imperial troops burst into his workshop but 'seeing him [and] stupefied at this work… they let him pursue it'.It is a jarring, unusual, eye-catching composition. Saint John the Baptist dominates the foreground, staring at us intently. With his exaggeratedly long finger he points upwards to the Virgin and Child, seated in a burst of light against dark grey storm clouds. The Christ Child mischievously kicks his foot out of the painting towards us. Saint Jerome lies sleeping on the ground, exhausted from his vigils in the wilderness, clutching a cross with the crucified Christ.
Title
The Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Jerome
Date
1526-7
Medium
Oil on poplar
Measurements
H 342.9 x W 148.6 cm
Accession number
NG33
Acquisition method
Presented by the Directors of the British Institution, 1826
Work type
Painting