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Saint Jerome in Art: Scholar, Hermit and the Lion

Published · Art & See editorial desk

Saint Jerome can appear among books in a study or praying in a rugged landscape. These settings emphasise different aspects of the same figure. A lion may help identify him, but its story belongs to devotional tradition. [1][2][3]

The scholar and his books

In Vincenzo Catena’s Saint Jerome in his Study, probably about 1510, Jerome reads at a desk surrounded by writing and devotional objects. The National Gallery connects this setting with his translation of the Bible into Latin. A lion rests near his slippers. The combination gives the room a specific identity; a book on its own would be much less decisive. [1]

Catena also provides an exception to a simple colour rule. The museum notes that Jerome’s pink clothing and blue hood and hat differ from the red cardinal’s dress more often associated with him. The reason for that choice remains uncertain. It should not be converted into a secure biographical explanation. [1]

An elderly bearded man in a pink robe with a blue hood and hat sits reading at an L-shaped desk in a panelled room; books, an inkwell, an unlit candle and a small crucifix stand around him, a lion lies on the floor beside a pair of creased slippers, and a distant city shows through the window.
The room does the work, not the book alone: lectern, inkwell, crucifix, discarded slippers and lion together. [1]The National Gallery, London, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The penitent in the wilderness

Sodoma’s Saint Jerome in Penitence shows a contrasting environment. Jerome kneels outside, gazing towards a crucifix, with his cardinal’s clothes set aside. An open book, skull and lion connect contemplation, learning and penitence. The National Gallery describes a strongly muscular figure, rather than an exhausted hermit. [2]

Compare the action before trying to classify the picture. Reading and prayer are not mutually exclusive aspects of Jerome’s imagery. A landscape does not erase the scholarly associations of a book, just as an interior does not remove the devotional function of a crucifix. These two records support a comparison of emphasis, not a rule for every representation.

A powerfully built, half-undressed bearded man kneels on rock in an open landscape, one hand on his chest, gazing up at a crucifix; his red robe and hat lie discarded beside an open book resting on a skull, a lion crouches behind him, and classical ruins and a tall stone pine stand in the distance.
The same saint outdoors: the cardinal's red is set aside, and the book now rests on a skull. [2]The National Gallery, London, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Why the lion is there

The National Gallery’s scholarly catalogue explains that the familiar tale concerns a thorn removed from a lion’s paw. It identifies this as a legend attached to Jerome from the life of Saint Gerasimus. The lion is therefore evidence for an artistic tradition, not proof of an event witnessed by the painter. [3]

Names can be stronger evidence than costume

Antonio Vivarini and Giovanni d’Alemagna’s Saints Peter and Jerome names its figures on the pedestal. Jerome carries a book. The National Gallery also cautions that his cardinal’s clothing is an anachronism: the office did not exist during his lifetime. [4]

When identifying another painting, check for a surviving inscription and an exact institutional record. Do not identify every elderly reader as Jerome or every saint beside a lion as this particular figure. Keep a catalogue’s qualified attribution separate from the confidence with which it identifies the subject.

Two bearded saints stand close together on a carved stone pedestal against a dark ground, beneath a gilded arch; the barefoot figure in front wears a yellow cloak over a blue robe and holds large gold keys, while the one behind wears a red cardinal's hat with hanging tassels and carries an open book and a small model church. Their names are lettered across the face of the pedestal.
The names are painted into the pedestal as though carved there, which settles what costume alone would not. [4]The National Gallery, London, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Three Jeromes, compared only on what the records state
PaintingSettingClothing in the recordLionNames inscribed
Catena, Saint Jerome in his Study (NG694)A panelled study, a distant city through the windowPink robe, blue hood and hat, not the usual cardinal's redLies near his creased slippers—
Sodoma, Saint Jerome in Penitence (NG3947)Rocky wilderness with classical ruinsCardinal's red robes and hat discardedBehind him, docile—
Vivarini and Giovanni d'Alemagna, Saints Peter and Jerome (NG768)An extravagantly carved stone pedestalCardinal's robes, an anachronism: the office did not exist in his lifetime—Names painted as if carved into the pedestal

A dash means the cited record does not mention it, not that it is absent from the painting. [1][2][4]

Sources

  1. National Gallery: Catena, Saint Jerome in his Study, NG694Accessed .
  2. National Gallery: Sodoma, Saint Jerome in Penitence, NG3947Accessed .
  3. National Gallery scholarly catalogue: Saint JeromeAccessed .
  4. National Gallery: Saints Peter and Jerome, NG768Accessed .
Saint Jerome in Art: Scholar, Hermit and the Lion — Saints Oil Paintings