Circle of José de Ribera; 17th century.

Spanish or Italian School, Circle of JOSE DE RIBERA (Xátiva, Valencia, 1591 - Naples, 1652); XVII century.
"St. Jerome".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents restorations on the pictorial surface.
It has Spanish frame, c. 1840 with damage.
Measurements: 79 x 65 cm; 95 x 75 cm (frame).
We see this work of clear and concise composition, with the saint of half a body in the foreground, highlighted by the direct illumination, on a neutral background of dark and ocher tone. As it is also usual at this time of the Baroque, St. Jerome is physically exhausted and meditating next to a human skull, making the symbolism of the transience of the material more present. The author fixes his attention on the saint's anatomy in which we can appreciate a certain idealization, since although the face reveals an old man, his anatomy tends to that of a young man. The face has been endowed with a great expressiveness, while he writes his writings. The present canvas presents a typical iconography of the 17th century, showing Saint Jerome. He achieved great popularity during the Counter-Reformation, due to his repentance and contemplative life, useful values to move the faithful. It is worth mentioning that this piece has a great similarity with some of the works of José de Ribera. An example of this is the one that belongs to the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts of Pau (France) dated 1633.

Saint Jerome is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church, born near Aquileia (Italy) in the year 347. Trained in Rome, he was an accomplished rhetorician, as well as a polyglot. Baptized at the age of nineteen, between 375 and 378 he retired to the Syrian desert to lead an anchorite's life. He returned to Rome in 382 and became a collaborator of Pope Damasus. In the second half of the 16th century a new iconography emerged in which the saint listens to the trumpet of the Apocalypse, an iconography widely used by the Counter-Reformation Church. The famous saint is usually depicted inside a cave or in the middle of the desert, and is usually, although not always, accompanied by his characteristic attributes: the stone, symbolizing the rigor of penance, with which he beats his chest; the skull, symbolizing death, and the red mantle that reflects the tradition that made him a cardinal. The accumulation of books and parchments next to the saint alludes to the saint's translation of the Bible into Latin, which was considered the only official translation since the Council of Trent. Finally, the theme of St. Jerome hearing the trumpet of the Last Judgment will become fashionable in Counter-Reformation Europe, and will gradually impose itself, displacing the previous interpretations of the saint as a sage or as a penitent.