Antonello da Messina, 'Saint Jerome in his Study', about 1475
About the work
Overview
Born in the fourth century, Saint Jerome was a scholar and a monk. His translation of the Bible from Greek into Latin is known as the Vulgate, and it is still used by the Catholic Church today.
Antonello offers a peek into the saint’s environment through a fictive stone wall pierced by a broad archway; it’s as though we're looking into a doll’s house. Jerome is in his study at the heart of a lofty, cathedral-like space, its imposing high vaults reflecting the saint’s exalted spirituality and intellect. An array of miniature still lifes – including books, a ceramic vase and a jar – line the study’s shelves.
The artist’s skill in using oil paint enabled him to recreate the texture of these objects, whether rough or shiny, cold or warm. This technical ability, inspired by his study of Netherlandish art, was hugely influential for the artists of Venice, where Antonello made this painting.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Saint Jerome in his Study
- Artist
- Antonello da Messina
- Artist dates
- active 1456; died 1479
- Date made
- about 1475
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 45.7 × 36.2 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1894
- Inventory number
- NG1418
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 17th-century Italian Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2014Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance PaintingThe National Gallery (London)30 April 2014 - 21 September 2014
-
2015SoundscapesThe National Gallery (London)8 July 2015 - 6 September 2015
-
2019Antonello da MessinaPalazzo Reale (Milan)21 February 2019 - 2 June 2019
-
2023Masterpieces from the National GalleryShanghai Art Museum East17 January 2023 - 7 May 2023National Museum of Korea2 June 2023 - 9 October 2023Hong Kong Palace Museum22 November 2023 - 11 April 2024Chimei Museum2 May 2024 - 1 September 2024
Bibliography
-
1837British Institution, Catalogue of Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, and French Masters (exh. cat. British Institution, May 1837), London 1837
-
1838G.F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, trans. H. Lloyd, vol. 2, London 1838
-
1845British Institution, Catalogue of Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English Masters (exh. cat. British Institution, June 1845), London 1845
-
1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
-
1871Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters associated with the Works of Deceased Masters of the British School (exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, 1871), London 1871
-
1875J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, Geschichte altniederländischen Malerei, Leipzig 1875
-
1876C. Ephrussi, 'Jacopo de Barbari: Notes et documents nouveaux', Gazette des beaux-arts, XIII, 1876, pp. 363-82
-
1888T. von Frimmel (ed.), Der Anonimo Morelliano, Vienna 1888
-
1889W.H.J. Weale and J.P. Richter, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures Belonging to the Earl of Northbrook, London 1889
-
1890A.G. Temple, Exhibition of Loan Collection of Pictures (exh. cat. Guildhall Art Gallery, 12 June - 31 August 1890), London 1890
-
1892W. Armstrong, Exhibition of Pictures by Masters of the Netherlandish and Allied Schools (exh. cat. Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1892), London 1892
-
1894National Gallery, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery with Biographical Notices of the Painters: Foreign Schools, London 1894
-
1894Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School (exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, 1894), London 1894
-
1895G. Frizzoni, 'La Galleria Nazionale di Londra e i suoi recenti acquisti in fatto d'arte italiana', Archivio storico dell'arte, 1895, pp. 87-105
-
1895London, National Gallery Archive, NG17/5: Annual Report of the Director of the National Gallery to the Treasury for the Year 1894, 1895
-
1897G. Gronau, 'Die Quellen der Biographie des Antonello da Messina', Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, XX, 1897, pp. 347-61
-
1898National Gallery, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, with Biographical Notes of the Painters: Foreign Schools, 78th edn, London 1898
-
1901A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, 11 vols, Milan 1901
-
1903Half Holidays at the National Gallery, London 1903
-
1903G.D. Marzo, Di Antonello da Messina e dei suoi congiunti, Palermo 1903
-
1907U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols, Leipzig 1907
-
1907L. Venturi, Le origini della pittura veneziana 1300-1500, Venice 1907
-
1909H. Stein, 'Antonello da Messina', Gazette des beaux-arts, I, 1909, pp. 34-51
-
1912J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in North Italy: Venice, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Ferrara, Milan, Friuli, Brescia, from the Fourteenth to the Sixteenth Century, ed. T. Borenius, 2nd edn, 3 vols, London 1912
-
1914N. Scalia, Introduzione, note e commento alla vita di Antonello del Vasari, Florence 1914
-
1914N. Scalia, Antonello da Messina e la pittura in Sicilia, Milan 1914
-
1914R. Longhi, 'Piero dei Franceschi e lo sviluppo della pittura veneziana', L'arte, XVII, 1914
-
1925A. Venturi, Grandi artisti italiani (celebrazioni e tributi), Bologna 1925
-
1925T. Kingsor, 'Antonello da Messina', L'Art et les artistes, XX, 1925
-
1925A. Strümpel, 'Hieronymus im Gehäuse', Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft, II, 1925, pp. 173-252
-
1933J. Lauts, 'Antonello da Messina', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, VII, 1933, pp. 15-88
-
1937S. Bottari, 'Il primo Antonello', Critica d'arte, II, 1937, pp. 97-109
-
1939S. Bottari, Antonello da Messina, Milan 1939
-
1939J. Lauts, 'Antonello da Messina', Pantheon, XXIII, 1939, pp. 181-90
-
1940J. Lauts, Antonello da Messina, Vienna 1940
-
1944L. Servolini, Jacapo de' Barbari, Padua 1944
-
1945R.C. Witt, Exhibition in Honour of Sir Robert Witt, CBE, D. LITT, FSA, of the Principal Acquisitions made for the Nation through the N.A.C.F (exh. cat. The National Gallery, London, 23 November 1945 - 5 January 1946), London 1945
-
1947P. Hendy, An Exhibition of Cleaned Pictures of 1947: (1936-1947), London 1947
-
1949F.M. Godfrey, 'Antonello da Messina', The Connoisseur, CXXIV/514, 1949
-
1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
-
1952G. Vigni, Tutta la pittura di Antonello da Messina, Milan 1952
-
1953S. Bottari, Antonello, Milan 1953
-
1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
-
1963O. Pächt, 'Zur Entstehung des Hieronymus im Gehäuse', Pantheon, XXI, 1963, pp. 131-42
-
1964R. Causa, Antonello da Messina, Milan 1964
-
1967L. Sciascia, L'opera completa di Antonello da Messina, Milan 1967
-
1970F. Hartt, A History of Italian Renaissance Art, London 1970
-
1973L. Moretti (ed.), G. B. Cavalcaselle: Disegni da antichi maestri, Venice 1973
-
1975M.G. Paolini, 'Antonello da Messina', The Connoisseur, CXC/764, 1975, pp. 126-31
-
1975A.W. Robins, 'The Paintings of Antonello da Messina', The Connoisseur, CLXXXVIII/757, 1975, pp. 186-93
-
1976N.J. Little, 'A Note on the Date of the London St. Jerome in His Study by Antonello da Messina', Arte veneta, XXX, 1976, pp. 154-7
-
1978E.T. DeWald, Italian Painting, 1200-1600, New York 1978
-
1979M.G. Paolini, Storia della Sicilia. Antonello e la sua scuola, Naples 1979
-
1980H. Friedmann, A Bestiary for Saint Jerome: Animal Symbolism in European Religious Art, Washington 1980
-
1980G.R. Goldner, 'A Late Fifteenth Century Venetian Painting of a Bird Hunt', J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, VIII, 1980, pp. 23-32
-
1980M.G. Paolini, 'Problemi antonelliani: I rapporti con la pittura fiamminga', Storia dell'arte, XXXVIII-XL, 1980, pp. 151-66
-
1980J. Wright, 'Antonello da Messina: Origins of His Style and Technique', Art History, III/1, 1980, pp. 41-60
-
1981D. Gordon, The National Gallery, London. 100 Great Paintings: Duccio to Picasso, London 1981
-
1981J. Fletcher, 'Marcantonio Michiel: His Friends and Collection', The Burlington Magazine, CXXIII/941, 1981, pp. 453-67
-
1981A. Marabottini and F.S. Santoro, Antonello da Messina, (exh. cat. Museo Regionale, 22 October 1981 - 31 January 1982), Rome 1981
-
1982P.H. Jolly, Jan van Eyck and St. Jerome: A Study of Eyckian Influence on Colantonio and Antonello Da Messina in Quattrocento Naples, London 1982
-
1982P.H. Jolly, 'Antonello da Messina's Saint Jerome in His Study: A Disguised Portrait?', The Burlington Magazine, CXXIV/946, 1982, pp. 27-9
-
1982B. Ridderbos, 'Antonello's St. Jerome in His Study', The Burlington Magazine, CXXIV/952, 1982, p. 449
-
1983P.H. Jolly, 'Antonello da Messina's Saint Jerome in His Study: An Iconographic Analysis', Art Bulletin, LXV/2, 1983, pp. 238-53
-
1983L. Puppi, 'Il viaggio ed il soggiorno a Venezia di Antonello da Messina', Museum Patavinum, I, 1983, pp. 253-82
-
1984B. Ridderbos, Saint and Symbol: Images of Saint Jerome in Early Italian Art, Groningen 1984
-
1984L.C. Vegas, Italie et Flandres dans la peinture du XVe siècle, Milan 1984
-
1985E. Battisti and R. Pacciani, Antonello: Il teatro sacro, gli spazi, la donna, Palermo 1985
-
1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
-
1986F. Sricchia Santoro, Antonello e l'Europa, Milan 1986
-
1987D. Russo, Saint Jérôme en Italie. Étude d'iconographie et de spiritualité (XIII-XIVe siècles), Paris 1987
-
1987H. Boström, 'The Studiolo: Background and Tradition', Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm, II/2, 1987, pp. 53-68
-
1989P. Dantraique, La peinture vénitienne, Neuchâtel 1989
-
1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
-
1991P. Thornton, The Italian Renaissance Interior, 1400-1600, London 1991
-
1991F. Haskell, 'William Coningham and His Collection of Old Masters', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXIII/1063, 1991, pp. 676-81
-
1992P. Reuterswärd, 'Three Cats in a Humanistic Context: To Say Nothing of the Peacock, the Partridge, and a Dog', Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, LXI/4, 1992, pp. 138-44
-
1992National Gallery, Saint Jerome (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 30 September to 13 December 1992), London 1992
-
1993L. Arbace, Antonello da Messina: Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1993
-
1993S. Ebert-Schifferer, Gottesfurcht und Höllenangst: Ein Lesebuch zur mittelalterlichen Kunst, Darmstadt 1993
-
1993C. Gilbert, 'Letter to the Editor: Saint Jerome and His Partridge', Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, LXII/1, 1993
-
1993R. White and J. Pilc, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIV, 1993, pp. 86-94
-
1993R. Velhagen, Eremiten und Eremitagen in der Kunst vom 15. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (exh. cat. Kunstmuseum, 28 March - 23 May 1993), Basel 1993
-
1994E. Langmuir, The National Gallery Companion Guide, London 1994
-
1995P. Humfrey, Painting in Renaissance Venice, New Haven 1995
-
1995E.H. Gombrich, Shadows: The Depiction of Cast Shadows in Western Art (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 26 April - 18 June 1995), London 1995
-
1996J. Warren, 'Bode and the British', Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, 38, 1996, pp. 121-42
-
1997D. Thornton, The Scholar in His Study: Ownership and Experience in Renaissance Italy, New Haven 1997
-
1999B. Aikema and B.L. Brown, Renaissance Venice and the North: Crosscurrents in the Time of Bellini, Dürer and Titian, (exh. cat. Palazzo Grassi, 5 September 1999 - 9 January 2000), Milano 1999
-
2000B. Aikema, De Heilige Hieronymus in het Studeervertrek of: Hoe Vlaams is Antonello da Messina, Nijmegen 2000
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2001F. Sricchia Santoro (ed.), Antonello a Napoli, Naples 2001
-
2004J. Sander, Italienische Gemälde im Städel 1300-1550. Oberitalien, Marken und Rom, Mainz 2004
-
2006Ajmar-Wollheim and F. Denniss (eds), At Home in Renaissance Italy (exh. cat. Victoria and Albert Museum, 5 October 2006 - 7 January 2007), London 2006
-
2006M. Lucco (ed.), Antonello da Messina: L'opera completa (exh. cat. Scuderie del Quirinale, 18 March - 5 June 2006), Milan 2006
-
2007V. Fera, 'Lo studio del "San Girolamo" di Antonello', Prospettiva, 126-127, 2007, pp. 105-14
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.