The Last Communion of St. Jerome

The Last Communion of St. Jerome by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, created between 1721 and 1731, is a masterful example of Italian draftsmanship. Classified as a drawing, this piece utilizes a complex blend of pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash, built up over traces of black chalk. The composition is dramatically highlighted through the application of lead white, a technique that allows the artist to define volume and capture the ephemeral quality of light within the scene.

Tiepolo, one of the foremost Venetian artists of the eighteenth century, frequently developed such drawings as preparatory studies for large-scale fresco cycles and altarpieces. This work depicts the climactic moment of St. Jerome receiving his final sacrament, a subject popular in Counter-Reformation art. The dramatic use of brown wash creates deep shadows and accentuates the pathos of the figures, a stylistic choice characteristic of the artist’s early maturity. The assurance and fluidity of the line work are hallmarks of drawings from this period in Italy, demonstrating Tiepolo’s command of the transition from late Baroque to Rococo aesthetics.

This drawing likely served as a modello or preliminary sketch, demonstrating Tiepolo's planning process before transferring the design to a final surface. This significant piece is housed in the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Because of the drawing's historical importance and the renown of the artist, high-quality prints and reproductions are frequently sought for academic study, allowing the mastery of this Italian masterwork to be appreciated globally.