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Oil on canvas representing the portrait of Saint-Jérôme in prayer with joined hands, in a gilded wooden frame, from the 17th century.
This painting is in good condition. It has been re-covered (by Atelier Petzold in Paris). Frame with keys, from the 17th century.
A note: some tiny accidents on the frame, slight wear of time, see photos.
is a monk, translator of the Bible, doctor of the Church and one of the four fathers of the Latin Church, with Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo and Gregory I. The order of Hieronymites (or "Hermits of Saint Jerome") refers to him. Jerome studied in Rome, converted around the age of 18 following a mysterious dream, then, after a stay in Gaul, left for the Holy Land in 373. He lived as a hermit in the "desert" of Chalcis in Syria, about fifty kilometers east of Antioch. He was then ordained a priest in Antioch. In 383, Pope Damasus I chose him as secretary and asked him to translate the Bible into Latin. The mark of confidence that the pope granted him on this occasion explains why tradition and iconography recognize him as a cardinal. The representations of Jérôme de Stridon were very quickly present in Western art. A Roman priest, Jerome is traditionally represented as a cardinal. Even when he is figured as an anchorite with a cross, a skull and a Bible for all ornamentation of his cell, he is often depicted with a red hat or some other sign like the purple cloak to indicate his cardinal rank. This representation is anachronistic, since the cardinalate was created around the year one thousand. Jerome's iconography has often called on his legend: for example, his penance in the desert (Saint Jerome, Leonardo da Vinci (1480), La Pinacoteca, Vatican). Jerome's claimed asceticism leads to depictions in the desert where he was doing penance with stones, whips, or other means of penance. He would also have met a lion wounded by a thorn in the paw, and this lion (symbol of the desert) would have let Jerome heal him. The legend goes on to claim that the lion would have become Jerome's pet, leading to numerous depictions of Jerome in the company of a lion.
