Sodoma, 'Saint Jerome in Penitence', probably about 1535-45

In this late work by Sodoma, Saint Jerome kneels in penitence in the wilderness, where he spent four years living as a hermit. But he is not shown as an emaciated recluse: he has discarded his red cardinal’s robes and hat, revealing his colossal, muscular body. His proportions are heroic, like a figure from Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling.

The strong light from top left emphasises the athleticism of the saint’s physique, casting his pensive face into shadow. He touches his heart with his hand as he gazes upon the image of Christ on the Cross. As a reminder of death and his own scholarship (Jerome translated the Bible into Latin), his open book rests on a human skull beside the pond. A toad sits beside Saint Jerome and behind him is his faithful companion, the docile lion from whose paw he had removed a thorn.

The rocky landscape of swirling waters beneath a crystalline blue sky is reminiscent of the work of Leonardo and of northern painters such as Patinir; the classical ruins and the tall stone pine silhouetted against the sky like a vision of the countryside outside Rome. Waterfalls cascade from the rocks below a clifftop fortress. A stone walkway extends between castellated gatehouses above a precipitous drop. The landscape is painted with dynamic dabs and dashes of paint, with flecks of lead white on the surface of the foaming waters and highlighting the bright leaves of trees. In some areas of the foliage Sodoma seems to have scratched into the surface of the paint with the end of his brush. The expressive application and manipulation of paint and the strongly defined areas of light and shadow add to the picture’s emotional charge and its sense of wildness and drama. This interest in romantic landscapes with ruins and dramatic luminous skies is typical of Sodoma’s work throughout his career. He avoided primary colours, choosing instead half tones of green, gold, tan and maroon. In this picture, which has suffered some damage, the blue paint of Jerome’s robe has bleached and the shadows have darkened.

A preparatory sketch in black chalk for this painting, sold at Christie’s in 2007, reveals the artist’s thought processes during composition. Between the drawing and painting, Sodoma moved the position of Saint Jerome’s leg forward and transferred the rock formation from the right to the left side of the picture. The cape billowing behind the figure of Saint Jerome in the drawing was transformed into the rocky mass of trees behind him in the painting. In the drawing his left hand was touching the skull and his right holding a rock with which to beat his breast. In the painting he holds his hands closer to his body, enhancing the feeling of emotional intensity.

Sodoma was from Vercelli in northern Italy but worked mainly in Siena, and his art unites the detailed naturalism of the northern Italian artistic tradition with a classical sense of form that reflects his study of central Italian art. Stylistically this picture resembles his Holy Family with Saint Leonard (Palazzo Pubblico, Siena) of about 1536, suggesting a similar date.