Luca Signorelli, 'Predella: Esther, and Life of Saint Jerome', about 1519-22

Predella: Esther, and Life of Saint Jerome

Luca Signorelli

Not on display

About the work

Overview

This long rectangular panel was made as a predella, the lowest tier of an altarpiece, and was commissioned by the Company of Saint Jerome for their church in Arezzo. The main panel, now in the Museo Civico, Arezzo, shows the Virgin Mary with symbols that refer to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which states that she was conceived without sin.

The central scene shows Esther appealing to her husband, the Persian king Ahasuerus, to put a stop to his advisor Haman’s plans to massacre the Jews, an intervention which made her a hero (Esther 8: 3–6). Esther is here singled out by Ahasuerus, a gesture that is seen as a forerunner to the Virgin Mary being chosen by God to be born free from sin. The surrounding scenes show Saint Jerome, who appeared in the visions of various clerics after his death.

In-depth

This long rectangular panel is painted with scenes from the life of Saint Jerome, surrounding a central image from the story of the Old Testament hero Esther. It was made as a predella, the lowest tier of an altarpiece which runs along the bottom of the main panel.

The altarpiece was commissioned jointly in 1519 by Niccolò Gamurrini, a papal officer in Rome, and the Company of Saint Jerome for their church in Arezzo. The contract stated that Signorelli ought to include painted pilasters and a predella, decorated with scenes ‘pleasing to the confraternity’. The main panel, which is now in the Museo Civico, Arezzo, shows the Virgin Mary surrounded by saints and prophets, including Saint Jerome, who stands in the foreground in the position of honour to her right. The Virgin is shown with symbols that refer to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which stated that she was conceived without sin.

Esther was sometimes seen as an Old Testament forerunner of the Virgin; like Mary, she was a humble Jewish woman who was elevated to a position of high rank. Esther was married to Ahasuerus, King of Persia; through her bravery in appealing to him to spare the Jews from a massacre planned by his chief advisor, she became a hero of her people. This scene shows her pleading to the King to put a stop to the murderous decree (Esther 8: 3–6).

Here she is attended by two maids, who support her body; Esther was so fearful of Ahasuerus that she fainted in his presence. Horrified at her state, he promised to protect the Jews. These details come from apocryphal Greek additions to the biblical text, which describe how, ‘raising his golden sceptre he laid it on Esther’s neck, embraced her and said, "Speak to me."’ This singling out of Esther by the King was often associated with the Virgin’s special status as born free from sin.

The three surrounding scenes show episodes that, according to the legend of Saint Jerome, occurred after his death when he appeared to various clerics as a vision. In the first scene to the far left, Saint Jerome and Saint John the Baptist appear to Saint Augustine; in the next, he appears with Christ to Sulpicius Severus. Finally, to the right of the scene with Esther, he appears to Saint Cyril, again with Christ. These episodes were recorded in a fourteenth-century Latin text by Giovanni da Bologna, translated into Italian and published frequently in the fifteenth century as Il Divoto Transito del Glorioso Sancto Hieronymo.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Esther before Ahasuerus, and Three Episodes from the Life of Saint Jerome
Artist: Luca Signorelli
Artist dates: about 1440/50 - 1523
Date made: about 1519-22
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 29.5 × 212.5 cm
Acquisition credit: Mond Bequest, 1924
Inventory number: NG3946
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection

Provenance

Probably the predella of an altarpiece of 1519–1522 at Arezzo; the contract for that specifies a predella, but no later mention of that predella is known. No. 3946 was probably in the E. Joly de Bammeville Sale, London, 12 June, 1854 (lot 49), bought by Grüner. It passed through the hands of Sir J. C. Robinson, and was purchased in 1886 by J. P. Richter, who sold it to Ludwig Mond in the following year. Signorelli Exhibition at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1893 (No. 14); New Gallery, 1897/8 (No. 144). Mond Bequest, 1924.

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.

Bibliography

1878

G. Vasari, Le vite de'più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori: Con nuove annotazioni e commenti di Gaetano Milanesi, ed. G. Milanesi, 8 vols, Florence 1878
1879

R. Vischer, Luca Signorelli und die italienische Renaissance: Eine kunsthistorische Monographie, Leipzig 1879
1903

J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, Umbria, Florence and Siena, from the Second to the Sixteenth Century, ed. R.L. Douglas, 2nd edn, 6 vols, London 1903
1903

G. Mancini, Vita di Luca Signorelli, Florence 1903
1908

H.F. Cook, Sandro Botticelli, London 1908
1909

G. Mancini, Guglielmo de Marcillat, francese, insuperato pittore sul vetro, Florence 1909
1910

J.P. Richter, The Mond Collection: An Appreciation, London 1910
1924

R. Fry, 'The Mond Pictures in the National Gallery', The Burlington Magazine, XLIV/254, 1924, pp. 234-46
1926

J. Klapper, 'Aus der Frühzeit des Humanismus', in Festschrift für Max Koch, Breslau 1926, pp. 256ff
1927

L. Düssler, Signorelli, Klassiker der Kunst 34, Berlin 1927
1951

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
1953

M. Salmi, Luca Signorelli, Novara 1953
1954

E. Panofsky, 'A Letter to Saint Jerome: A Note on the Relationship between Petrus Christus and Jan van Eyck', in D. Miner (ed.), Studies in Art and Literature for Belle da Costa Greene, Princeton 1954, pp. 102-8
1957

M.L. D'Ancona, The Iconography of the Immaculate Conception in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, New York 1957
1959

H.I. Roberts, 'St Augustine in "Saint Jerome's Study": Carpaccio's Painting and Its Legendary Source', Art Bulletin, 1959, pp. 283-97
1961

M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
1985

E.F. Rice, Saint Jerome in the Renaissance, Baltimore 1985
1985

E. Hall and H. Uhr, 'Aureola Super Auream: Crowns and Related Symols of Special Distinction for Saints in Late Gothic and Renaissance Iconography', Art Bulletin, LXVII/4, 1985, pp. 567-603
1986

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
1989

L. Kanter, The Late Works of Luca Signorelli and His Followers, 1498-1559, Phd Thesis, New York University 1989
1999

L.P. Gnaccolini and L.T. Bardin, 'Liber Esther, multipliciter Christi et Ecclesiae sacramenta in mysterio continet', Arte Cristiana, LXXXVII/791, 1999, pp. 117-30
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

Luca Signorelli, 'Predella: Esther, and Life of Saint Jerome', about 1519-22

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Luca Signorelli