Flemish school; second third of the XVI century.

Flemish school; second third of the 16th century.
"Penitent St. Jerome"
Oil on panel.
With painting on the back.
Measurements: 46.5 x 35 cm; 49 x 40 cm (frame).
In this panel the theme of St. Jerome penitent in the desert is approached through an open composition. The saint appears full-length in the center of the composition, kneeling and concentrated while looking at the crucifix next to it is the skull.
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 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. 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.