Salvador Dalì, Sanctus Hieronymus, 50x39 cm, Lithograph from The Holy Bible, 1967

A colour lithograph from the Holy Bible edition by Dalí. The print exhibits Saint Jerome, the first official translator of the Bible. In 382 AD, on behalf of Pope Damasus I, St Jerome was bestowed the task of revising the translation of the Gospels. Subsequently in 390 AD, he started working on the Old Testament in order to translate it into Hebrew which took him 23 years to complete. The scene depicts St Jerome translating the bible, who also became the sole bearer of the divine message of the holy bible. St jerome has been a popular subject of paintings for early renaissance artists like Caravaggio and Leonardo da Vinci. However, Dalí’s version is significantly different and more dynamic than the traditional paintings. The lithograph is labelled number 1 and is plate signed by Dalí on the bottom right corner.