Saint Jerome Writing is a painting by the Italian master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in 1607 or 1608, housed in the Oratory of St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta.

In Naples he had been an instant success, achieving ten commissions, including a number of large and very prestigious altarpieces, in less than a year, and inspiring a following of Caravaggisti among the city's artists.

Why then leave all this for a speck of rock inhabited by warrior-monks noted more for their fighting (Peter Robb compares them to the French Foreign Legion) than for their support of the arts?

The following summarises the speculation of recent biographers such as Robb and Helen Langdon: In 1607 Caravaggio was still an outlaw, at risk of being tracked down by his enemies – the family of the man he had killed – and Naples, close to Rome, may have seemed comparatively exposed.

His patrons and protectors – the Colonna, the Giustiniani, the banker Ottavio Costa – had strong links with Malta and the Knights, and it may have been felt that joining the Order would give Caravaggio immediate protection and aid in procuring a Papal pardon for his eventual return to Rome.

[citation needed] The subject seems oddly unmartial for a commission by a man whose raison d'etre was to fight the Turks – St Jerome was venerated as the translator of the Bible, which he is seen doing here.

He was also a relative, if not the brother or cousin, of Vespasianus Malaspina who died a martyr's death whilst courageously fighting the Ottoman soldiery in Fort Saint Elmo.