Unidentified Florentine artist

St Jerome in the wilderness

Florence, about 1500

Engraving

Plate: 222 x 282 mm 

Mount: 405 x 557 mm

The scholar St Jerome retired to the Syrian Desert to live in seclusion as a hermit. He is depicted in a traditional manner; dishevelled and semi-naked, with a rock for beating his breast. His customary attributes, a cardinal’s hat and lion, are also present. During the Renaissance, Jerome was recognised as an ultimate figure of Christian contemplation and devotion, due in part to his prolific theological writings that include his Latin translation of the Bible. Of modest quality, this engraving by an unidentified Florentine hand probably records a now lost painting.

Purchased in October 1959 (No. 59.7).