Saint Jerome

Elisha Kirkall was a British printmaker and illustrator who developed of a method combining relief and intaglio printing that he used to emulate chiaroscuro drawings and woodcuts by Renaissance artists. Kirkall’s integration of the relatively new method of mezzotint anticipates the further use of mezzotint and aquatint—two intaglio methods that produce continuous tone—in multi-color prints of the mid-to-late eighteenth century. “Saint Jerome” is one of a number of prints that Kirkall made after artworks in the notable collection of Dr. Richard Mead (British, 1673–1754), who is acknowledged in the printed inscription below this image. "Saint Jerome" demonstrates Kirkall’s innovative technique of integrating etching and mezzotint with woodcut to create a chiaroscuro effect.