Spanish school; follower of José de Ribera, XVII century.

Spanish School; Follower of JOSÉ DE RIBERA (Xátiva, Valencia, 1591 - Naples, 1652); XVII century.
"St. Jerome penitent.
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 72,5 x 97,5 cm; 96 x 119,5 cm (frame).
In this work the painter offers us an image charged with mystical emotion, very typical of Spanish Counter-Reformation art. In fact, the Prado Museum houses in its collection a work with an identical model, attributed to José de Ribera (P003119). Thus, we see a work of clear and concise composition, with the saint full-length in the foreground, highlighted by direct lighting, tenebrist, on a background of dark tones. As was also common at this time in the Spanish school, Saint Jerome appears, writing and meditating next to a human skull. Although in this case it should be noted that the saint holds a stone in his hands, while directing his gaze towards a point outside the composition of the canvas. Next to the saint can be seen other iconographic attributes that define the figure of St. Jerome, first of all, the lion that accompanied him since he took the thorn out of the silver, and also the scriptures that define him as the first translator of the Bible. One of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church, St. Jerome was born near Aquileia (Italy) in 347. Trained in Rome, he was an accomplished rhetorician and 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. One of the most frequent representations of this saint is his penance in the desert. His attributes are the stone he uses to beat his chest and the skull on which he meditates. Also the cardinal's cape (or a red mantle), although he was never a cardinal, and the tamed lion. The latter comes from a story of the "Golden Legend", where it is narrated that one day, when he was explaining the Bible to the monks of his convent, he saw a lion coming with a limp. He removed the thorn from its paw, and from then on he kept it in his service, instructing it to look after his donkey while it grazed. Some merchants stole the donkey, and the lion recovered it, returning it to the saint without hurting the animal. Spanish Baroque painting is one of the most authentic and personal examples of art, because its conception and form of expression arose from the people and the deepest feelings that nestled in it. With the economy of the State in ruins, the nobility in decline and the high clergy burdened with heavy taxes, it was the monasteries, parishes and confraternities of clerics and laymen who promoted its development, the works sometimes being financed by popular subscription. Sculpture was thus compelled to embody the prevailing ideals in these environments, which were none other than religious ones, at a time when the counter-reformist doctrine demanded from art a realistic language so that the faithful would understand and identify with what was represented, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content to increase the fervor and devotion of the people. The religious subject is, therefore, the preferred theme of Spanish painting of this period, which in the first decades of the century starts from a priority interest in capturing the natural, to progressively intensify throughout the century the expression of expressive values, which is achieved through the movement and variety of gestures, the use of light resources and the representation of moods and feelings.