Saint Jerome in Meditation

The skull, not the pen

Jerome has more attributes than almost any other saint, and they divide into two groups. One belongs to the work: a book, a pen, a desk, the translation of scripture into Latin for which he is remembered. The other belongs to the withdrawal: a skull, a stone, a crucifix, the hermit's exposure. A meditation subject selects the second group. The same figure who elsewhere is shown writing is here shown attending to an object that says the writing will end.

What the record holds

The catalogue dates the work to 1606 and gives the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, Monistrol de Montserrat, Spain as its location. The dimensions are 118 x 81 cm, an upright at the scale of a half-length figure. It is filed under male portraiture and Religion, with the styles given as Baroque and Tenebrism; the measured colour families are red and yellow.

Two Jeromes by one hand

20 titles in this catalogue contain the name Jerome. Two of them are by this painter and belong to the two groups described above: the entry recorded here, and a Saint Jerome Writing dated 1605 and held at the Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy at 112 x 157 cm. One is upright and one is horizontal, which is the difference between a man alone and a man at a table. The record shows both; it does not connect them, and neither does this note.