Penitent Saint Jerome
Artist
Jacopo del Sellaio
(1441-1493, active in Florence)
Date1480s
MediumOil on wood
DimensionsFrame: 29 7/16 H x 20 13/16 W x 3 1/8 D in. (74.7 x 52.9 x 7.9 cm)
Unframed support: 20 11/16 H x 13 W x 1 D in. (52.6 x 33 x 2.5 cm)
Image: 19 7/8 H x 12 5/16 W (50.5 x 31.2 cm)
Unframed support: 20 11/16 H x 13 W x 1 D in. (52.6 x 33 x 2.5 cm)
Image: 19 7/8 H x 12 5/16 W (50.5 x 31.2 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN17
A popular figure in the fifteenth century, Saint Jerome (d. 420) was a bishop who retired to live as a penitent in the desert. Here, Jerome kneels before a crucifix in a rocky wilderness, beating his bare torso with a rock in emulation of Christ’s earthly suffering. Jerome was the patron saint of learning and scholarship: observe the inkpot and quill in the rocks above him and the books beside his feet. Devotional images like this one were often made for domestic settings, particularly for homes belonging to scholars.
This panel was probably part of a polyptych and has been cut on the left side. St. Jerome kneels before a crucifix in a rocky wilderness, stone in hand and chest bared. The lion, Jerome's familiar attribute, has his maw open and seems poised for attack. At the foot of the crucifix, a skull serves as a memento mori. In the background, St. John the Baptist kneels in prayer surrounded by a number of cavorting deer. A walled and turreted city lies in the distance. St. Jerome, a Bishop of Bethlehem from the early Christian era who lived as a penitent in the desert, was a popular figure in the 15th century since he was patron of learning and scholarship.
On View
On viewLocation
Bibliography- Museum of Art, Gallery 05
Berenson 1932, p. 527. Berenson 1936, p. 104. Suida 1949, no. 17. Fredericksen and Zeri 1972, p. 187. Tomory 1976, no. 32. Friedmann 1980, pp. 205, 343. New York 1981, p. 28. Athens 2002, pp. 76-79.
ca. 1600s
Giovanni del Biondo
late 1380s
