Italian school; early 17th century.

Italian school; early 17th century.
"Saint Jerome".
Oil on canvas.
It presents restorations on the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 146 x 110 cm.
In this canvas the theme of Saint Jerome penitent in the desert is approached through a classical, clear and open composition. Thus, the saint appears full-length, highlighted by the lighting and also by the intense crimson tone of his cloak. He is located in a rocky setting, enclosed on the right side and open to the landscape (to a grey, leaden sky) on the opposite side, a composition directly derived from the teachings of the Italian classicist Baroque. Next to it we see the lion, lying at his feet, the skull and the writings, all enveloped in a nuanced half-light.
Baroque painting is one of the most authentic and personal examples of art, because its conception and form of expression arose from the people and their deepest feelings. With the economy of the state in ruins, the nobility in decline and the clergy heavily taxed, it was the monasteries, parishes and confraternities of clerics and laymen who encouraged its development, and the works were sometimes financed by popular subscription. Painting was thus obliged to express the prevailing ideals in these environments, which were none other than religious ones, at a time when Counter-Reformation doctrine demanded a realistic language from art so that the faithful could understand and identify with what was depicted, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content to increase the fervour and devotion of the people. Religious themes were therefore the main subject matter of Spanish painting of this period, which in the early decades of the century focused primarily on capturing the natural world and gradually intensified throughout the century on expressive values, which it achieved through movement and a variety of gestures, the use of light resources and the depiction of moods and feelings. One of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church, Saint Jerome was born near Aquileia (Italy) in the year 347. Baptised at the age of nineteen, between 375 and 378 he withdrew to the Syrian desert to lead an anchorite's life. He returned to Rome in 382 and became a collaborator of Pope Damasus. One of the most frequent representations of this saint is his penance in the desert. His attributes are the stone he uses to beat his chest and the skull on which he meditates. Also the cardinal's cape (or a red mantle), although he was never a cardinal, and the tamed lion. The latter comes from a story in the "Golden Legend", where it is narrated that one day, when he was explaining the Bible to the monks in his convent, he saw a lion limping towards him. He removed the thorn from the lion's paw, and from then on he kept it in his service, instructing it to look after his donkey while he grazed. Some merchants stole the donkey, and the lion recovered it, returning it to the saint without hurting the animal.