Object number1985.20

Saint Jerome in his Study

Datec. 1530

circle of Joos van Cleve (Netherlandish, 1485 - 1541)

MediumTempera and oil on panel

DimensionsFramed: 46 3/4 x 40 7/8 in. (118.75 x 103.82 cm)
Unframed: 38 3/4 x 32 3/4 x 1/4 in. (98.43 x 83.19 x 0.64 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, Friends of the Vassar College Art Gallery Fund

On View

On view

Period16th c

Classification(s)

Painting

SignedNot signed or dated

InscribedInscribed (on cradle, at proper right edge, round stickers, one white and one red, torn paper label, and in red pen): 3928; (on cradle, at proper left edge, red paper label): 10123 / (directly underneath number and upsidedown ) IDENTIFICATION NO. ; (on cradle, reverse, ULC, paper label: 5348 / x27; (on cradle, at top center, paper label, in script): styl 3 ; (on cradle, at right edge, paper tag attached with straps and tape): SOTHEBYS / 27(number encircled) / FOUNDED 1774; (on top horizontal cradle member, in chalk, appears to be): 1457; (second vertical cradle member from right, in chalk): 1057; (UR of saint's head): RESPICE FINEM (translated: consider your end)

ProvenanceThis work has been examined by the Provenance Project, 05-06
Exhibition HistorySouth Hadley, MA, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, "Wine and Spirit: Rituals, Remedies, and Revelry, " September 2, 2010 - December 12, 2010
DescriptionThis painting is one of at least six replicas of a lost prototype by Joos van Cleve, based in turn on the painting of the same subject by Albrecht Dürer now in Lisbon. Other Flemish artists also produced variants on this composi- tion, raising the total number of extant similar images to at least a dozen. The version closest to that at Vassar resides in the collection of the Harvard University Museums. Vassar’s painting was deaccessioned by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1985, where it was part of the Harding Collection. The painting is intended as a memento mori (reminder of death) portraying the saint in a pensive ‘brown study,’ pointing to a skull. The message is rein- forced by the piece of paper reading respice finem (consider your end) adhered to the wall over the niche that holds the kettle and basin. In other variants of this painting, the message reads homo bulla (man is a bubble) or cogita mori (think of death), all expressing the same message of preparing spiritually for the end of earthly things. Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, was considered by Renaissance artists an early Humanist scholar, hence he is often portrayed among the books, quills, ink, and the other trappings of learning. The inscription on the book before him on the lectern reads simply “text.” Among those on the shelf above the saint are the Book of Revelations inscribed “Apocalipsis,” and presumably a volume of the Epistles of Paul, only the first four letters of “Epistolas” being legible. Paul was a favorite author of Jerome and one with whom he felt an historical and philosophical attachment. Other iconographical elements attest to the saint’s affinity with the purity of the Virgin, including the metal ewer, the basin, and the white towel. The corked carafe on the shelf holding a liquid seemingly composed of rose petals in suspension was also used as a visual metaphor for Mary’s virginity in late medieval art. The vase next to the Cruci- fix on the shelf contains, among other flowers, the columbine, a symbol of the Sorrows of the Virgin.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu