French Caravaggist painter; second third of the XVII century.

French Caravaggist painter; second third of the 17th century.
"Saint Jerome reading".
Oil on canvas.
It has French frame c. 1830.
Measurements: 96 x 138 cm; 126 x 166 cm (frame).
St. Jerome reading was one of the most recurrent themes of the baroque iconography. The composition is directly inspired by an engraving of José de Ribera published in 1624, from which it takes the expressive intensity and the luminous dramatism characteristic of the tenebrist naturalism.
The saint is represented as an old ascetic, absorbed in the reading of the Holy Scriptures, with his torso naked and his body modeled by a strong and directed light that contrasts with the dark background. The use of chiaroscuro, of clear Caravaggist heritage, accentuates the volume of the figure and reinforces the introspective and meditative character of the scene. Symbolic elements such as the skull and the books allude to vanitas, study and reflection on the transience of life.
The brushstroke is restrained but expressive, with special attention to the material qualities of the aged skin, the folds of the red cloth and the objects in the foreground. The barely sketched landscape in the background softens the composition without detracting from the main figure.
The work preserves a French frame dated around 1830, in accordance with the historicist taste of the 19th century. French Caravaggism developed throughout the first third and middle of the seventeenth century as a result of the profound influence exerted by Michelangelo Merisi, Caravaggio, on many French artists who traveled to Rome. Painters such as Valentin de Boulogne, Nicolas Tournier or Georges de La Tour assimilated the radical naturalism, the tenebrism and the intense emotional charge of the Italian master, adapting them to a more sober and reflective sensibility. These works reflect both the spirituality of the Counter-Reformation and the interest in direct observation of reality, making Caravaggism one of the most influential languages of the French Baroque.