A skull stares at St. Jerome who stares down at his book. This is a masterful study in contrasts and contradictions, a meditation on the human condition that captures the essence of faith and mortality. The painting depicts the aged Saint Jerome, the renowned scholar who translated the Bible into Latin, in a moment of profound contemplation and devotion. Caravaggio's mastery lies in his ability to infuse the canvas with a raw, unvarnished realism that borders on the grotesque. The saint's emaciated form, his weathered face etched with the lines of a life spent in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment, is rendered with an unflinching honesty that accentuates the frailty of the human body. Nonetheless, there remains something uplifting about the figures fervour, hunched over that weighty tome with his quill poised. You get the sense that for Jerome, grappling with the eternal verities is a labour of soul-sustaining love. The skull's there to keep him humble, but his zeal for the word triumphs over thoughts of oblivion. It's a painting that revels in extremes - the tension between the spiritual and the corporeal, the darkness and the piercing light. Caravaggio thrived on such contradictions. With a few deft strokes, he could render the sacred simultaneously carnal and transcendent. That's the real miracle in this Jerome - making the dying light crackle with vitality.