Italian school; second half of the 17th century.

Italian school; second half of the seventeenth century.
"St. Jerome penitent".
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Presents period frame.
Measurements: 110 x 82 cm, 127 x 99 cm (frame).
This canvas presents a typical iconography of the seventeenth century, which shows St. Jerome. He reached a great popularity during the Counter-Reformation, due to his repentance and contemplative life, useful values to move the faithful. Saint Jerome is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church, born near Aquileia (Italy) in 347. Trained in Rome, he was an accomplished rhetorician, as well as a polyglot. Baptized at the age of nineteen, between 375 and 378 he retired to the Syrian desert to lead an anchorite's life. He returned to Rome in 382 and became a collaborator of Pope Damasus. In the second half of the 16th century a new iconography emerged in which the saint listens to the trumpet of the Apocalypse, an iconography widely used by the Counter-Reformation Church. The famous saint is usually depicted inside a cave or in the middle of the desert, and is usually, although not always, accompanied by his characteristic attributes: the stone, symbolizing the rigor of penance, with which he beats his chest; the skull, symbolizing death, and the red mantle that reflects the tradition that made him a cardinal. The accumulation of books and parchments next to the saint alludes to the saint's translation of the Bible into Latin, which was considered the only official translation since the Council of Trent. Finally, the theme of St. Jerome hearing the trumpet of the Last Judgment will become fashionable in Counter-Reformation Europe, and will gradually impose itself, displacing the previous interpretations of the saint as a sage or as a penitent.
In this canvas, the theme of St. Jerome penitent in the desert is approached through a classical, clear and open composition. Thus, the saint appears full-length, highlighted by the lighting and also by the intense crimson tone of his cloak. He is located in a rocky environment, closed on the left side and with two angels on the opposite side open to a landscape with a gray, leaden sky, is a composition directly derived from the teachings of the Italian classicist baroque. Next to him we see the lion, the skull, the scriptures and the cross in his hands.