Workshop of Gerard David, 'Saint Jerome in a Landscape', perhaps about 1501

Saint Jerome in a Landscape

Workshop of Gerard David

Not on display

About the work

Overview

An elderly man kneels in landscape, beating his sunken and bleeding chest with a stone. He gazes up at a Crucifix attached to a tree, on which hangs a painted figure of Christ. This is Saint Jerome, hermit and translator of the Bible. His cardinal’s robes and hat lie discarded behind him.

The rocky and wooded landscape is presumably the wilderness to which he fled and where he beat his chest when tempted by sinful thoughts. According to legend, while there he pulled a thorn out of a lion’s paw. It remained his faithful companion until his death – here it lies beside him like a pet dog. The tower behind could be Bethlehem, where Jerome settled in the year 386.

This subject was very popular in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Jerome was seen as a role model for living an ascetic life – he renounced worldly riches and pleasure – and for the scholarly study of the Bible.

In-depth

The subject of the penitent Jerome was popular in the Low Countries. One of the so-called Doctors of the Church, Saint Jerome was seen as a role model for living an ascetic life – he renounced worldly riches and pleasure – and for the scholarly study of the Bible. Widely travelled and well educated, Jerome was deeply affected by a dream in which God accused him of loving classical literature more than scripture. He went to live in the desert of Chalcis in Syria, gave up the classics he knew and loved, and learnt Hebrew to study the Bible in its original language. He later went to Rome and became secretary to the pope, so is often shown with the red robes and hat of a cardinal, as in Crivelli’s Saint Jerome, although the office did not exist in his lifetime. He started work on what was to become the standard Latin text of the Bible.

The condition of this painting makes it impossible to judge its quality accurately. It is clearly in the style of Gerard David, but due to the popularity of the subject a number of versions were made by David’s followers. It may be compared with Canon Bernardijn Salviati and Three Saints – the cross shown at an angle is similar to one in the panel of this diptych that is now in Berlin – and is probably a version of a pattern by David painted in his workshop at about the same time as Salviati’s picture, in around 1501.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Saint Jerome in a Landscape
Artist: Workshop of Gerard David
Artist dates: active 1484; died 1523
Date made: perhaps about 1501
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 35.3 × 23.7 cm
Inscription summary: Inscribed
Acquisition credit: Salting Bequest, 1910
Inventory number: NG2596
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: George Salting

Provenance

By 1882 the painting was in the collection of Léon [de] Somzée (1837–1901), a Brussels industrialist. His sons Côme and Gaetan inherited his collection and in July 1902 Gaetan sold several pictures, including NG 2596, to Agnew’s. George Salting (1836–1909) bought it from Agnew’s in December 1903 and it formed part of the Salting Bequest received in 1910.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools’, London 1998; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1892

W. Armstrong, Exhibition of Pictures by Masters of the Netherlandish and Allied Schools (exh. cat. Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1892), London 1892
1902

G.H. de Loo, Exposition de tableaux flamands des XIVe, XVe et XVIe siècles: Catalogue critique, précédé d'une introduction sur 'identité de certains maîtres anonymes, Ghent 1902
1903

M.J. Friedländer, Meisterwerke der niederländischen Malerei des XV. u. XVI. Jahrhunderts auf der Ausstellung zu Brügge 1902 (exh. cat. Provinciaal Hof, 15 June 1902 - 15 September 1902), Munich 1903
1921

W.M. Conway, The van Eycks and Their Followers, London 1921
1924

M.J. Friedländer, Die altniederländische Malerei, 14 vols, Berlin 1924
1945

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
1953

M. Davies, The National Gallery, London, Les Primitifs flamands. I, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pay-Bas méridionaux au quinzième siècle 3, 2 vols, Antwerp 1953
1955

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
1973

The National Gallery, The National Gallery: January 1971 - December 1972, London 1973
1974

M. Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries, London 1974
1980

E.J. Mundy, Gerard David Studies, Princeton 1980
1987

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
1991

D. Martens, 'Un triptyque d'Adriaen Isenbrandt reconstitué', Oud Holland, CV, 1991, pp. 157-66
1992

C. Scailliérez, 'Entre enluminure et peinture: À propos d'un paysage avec saint Jérôme pénitent de l'école ganto-brugeoise récemment acquis par le Louvre', Revue du Louvre, II, 1992, pp. 16-31
1998

Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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You've viewed 6 of 8 works

Workshop of Gerard David, 'Saint Jerome in a Landscape', perhaps about 1501

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

Related works