St Jerome in his study.

Oil on oak panel, 49 x 67,5 cm, unsigned (sm. damages lower left corner, horizontal joint of two planks visible in image with slight cracks and losses in the paint layer).

Under gilt orn. frame.

St Jerome in a red cloak seated in his study, pointing at a skull. This depiction of St Jerome is an innovative solution in the iconography and forms of pictorial representation of the patron saint of Christian humanists. The Doctor of the Church is represented here by the powerful, concentrated and synthetic image of an old sage, melancholically meditating on death and the contingency of the human condition. Elements such as the clock in the background and the extinguished candle are reminders of the fragile nature of human existence. The iconographic convention was introduced in the Low Countries with the visit of Albrecht Dürer to Antwerp in 1520-1521. The archetype for the melancholic St Jerome was presented as a gift by the German artist to the secretary of the Portuguese merchants in Antwerp (Lisbon, Museu Nacional de arte Antiga). Joos van Cleve's workshop was the most prolific in producing copies of this composition for the Antwerp art market. Throughout the sixteenth century the theme and composition remained in high demand with upper-middle class art collectors.
Ref. M.J. Friedländer, "Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. IX (part I)", Leiden 1972, pp. 31, 58, under no. 39. - J.O. Hand, "Saint Jerome in His Study" by Joos van Cleve", in: A tribute to Robert A. Koch. Studies in the Northern Renaissance, Princeton 1994, p. 53-67. - J.O. Hand, "Joos van Cleve. Complete Paintings", New Haven and London 2004, p. 161, no. 78.