Workshop of Alessandro Bonvicino, known as Moretto (Brescia, circa 1498 – 1554)
Saint Jerome
Oil on canvas
85 x 68 cm - Framed 100 x 82 cm
Full details of the work (click HERE)
A fine portrait of Saint Jerome, a doctor of the Church who lived between the 4th and 5th centuries, here immortalized according to the typical iconography that sees him in the dual role of penitent hermit in the desert and humanist engaged in reading, in a deserted and wild landscape.
This multifaceted figure of Saint Jerome was very successful in the Lombard area between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a supreme example of the harmony between the knowledge of the classical age and Christian virtue. It therefore became a subject dear to a refined and cultured public, often illustrated in small-sized works intended for private devotion.
We see him with an intense and thoughtful gaze, turned towards the crucifix, his canonical iconographic attribute and symbol of his penance in the desert, while he beats his chest with a stone.
Beside him, the lion, symbol of tamed passions but also of his spiritual strength, and the skull, 'memento mori' (remember that you must die) and allusive to the passage of time, underlining the transience of earthly life. Then the Cardinal's Hat is hung, to remember his role as Doctor of the Church and translator of the Bible.
This is a work of excellent quality for illustrative clarity, pictorial refinement and chromatic sensitivity, suggesting a Lombard area execution around the end of the sixteenth century, and precisely indebted to the models created by Alessandro Bonvicino, known as Moretto (Brescia, circa 1498 – 1554), one of the leading artists of the early Brescian Renaissance.
Devotional paintings like this were one of Bonvicino's most important productions, and the fact that there are no strictly analogous images suggests that the painting should be included in the ever-complex catalogue of works executed by the workshop, presumably under the supervision of the master himself. The Venetian influence is strongly felt in the work: both the pictorial manner and the coloring in which the bright green of the drapery that envelops the Saint dominates are elements that recall the works of Titian.
Behind Saint Jerome there is a wide hilly landscape on which a clear sky appears where a few clouds appear, characterized by a vivid blue, characteristic of the Brescian artist.
The figure of Saint Jerome frequently returns in the painter's paintings with multiple illustrative modalities: in particular, the chromatic, light and tonal intonation of the image recalls the Saint Jerome in meditation from the collection of the Liechtenstein Museum (inv GE 313, oil on panel, 39 × 31 cm., URL: https://www.liechtensteincollections.at/sammlungen-online/der-heilige-hieronymus4 , imm.1)
Other works in his catalogue with this subject, the San Gerolamo from the Borromeo collection at Isola Bella datable between 1540 and 1545 (imm.2 - https://www.lombardiabeniculturali.it/opere-arte/schede/C0050-00086/ ), or in the Madonna with Child and Saint Jerome from a Private Collection (imm.3 - https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Madonna_con_bambino_e_san_Girolamo.jpg ).
The figure, the face and the attitude evoke the Saint Mark the Evangelist of the Old Cathedral in Brescia (imm.4 - https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/0300044732 ).
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The images were created using a photographic set and professional lighting.
The painting is sold complete with a pleasant frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.
In the case of the purchase of the work by non-Italian customers, it will be necessary to obtain an export permit which takes approximately 10/20 days, our gallery will take care of the entire phase until it is obtained. All costs of this procedure are included.
We take care of and organize the transport of purchased works, both for Italy and abroad, through professional and insured carriers.
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