The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Saint Jerome and the Lion (From the former Church of St. Peter in Erfurt)

Saint Jerome and the Lion (From the former Church of St. Peter in Erfurt)

c. 1495
(German, active Würzburg, c. 1460–1531)
Overall: 37.8 x 28.1 x 15.9 cm (14 7/8 x 11 1/16 x 6 1/4 in.)

Did You Know?

In the story Saint Jerome encounters a fearsome lion, here depicted as diminutive, gentle, and submissive.

Description

According to legend, Saint Jerome (347–420 bce) lived in the desert, where he removed a thorn from an injured lion. Jerome is venerated in the Catholic Church as a Church Father, an important early author of Christianity. Here, he wears cardinal’s clothing from around 1500.

Tilman Riemenschneider focused on Jerome’s relationship with the lion, creating empathy for the wounded animal. The delicacy of the depiction, which may have been partially painted to add highlights, is typical of alabaster, as is its fine polishing. The cord of the cardinal’s hat, missing today, may have been supplemented from another material.
  • Private Collection, Paris
    ?-1913
    Aynard Collection, Lyons
    Harry Fuld, Frankfurt am Main
    ?-1946
    (Rosenberg & Steibel, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1946-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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    Provinzialmuseum Hannover, and Tilman Riemenschneider. Riemenschneider Gedächtnis-Ausstellung 1931 des Museums für Kunst und Landesgeschichte im Provinzial-Museum Hannover. Verzeichnis der ausgestellten Werke Riemenschneiders und seiner Schule. 1931. Cat. No. 10a, p. 16.
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    Werner, Alfred. "Riemenschneider and the Gothic Genius" Arts Magazine (October 1962). pp. 41-42
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    Cooper, Barbara, and Maureen Matheson. The World Museums Guide, Edited by Barbara Cooper & Maureen Matheson. London: Threshold Books Ltd, 1973. p. 78
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    Krohm, Hartmut. Zum Frühwerk Tilman Riemenschneiders: eine Dokumentation. Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Skulpturengalerie, 1982. p. 97 fig. 6
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    Kalden-Rosenfeld, Iris, and Tilman Riemenschneider. Tilman Riemenschneider - Werkstattleiter in Würzburg: Beiträge zur Organisation einer Bildschnitzer- und Steinbildhauerwerkstatt im ausgehenden Mittelalter. Ammersbek bei Hamburg: Verl. an der Lottbek Jensen, 1990.
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    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Cat. no. 90, p. 242
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  • Riemenschneider and Late Medieval Alabaster. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-July 23, 2023).
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    Classical, Medieval, Renaissance and Modern Sculpture, Dudley P. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 6-31, 1950).
    Riemenschneider Gedächtnis-Ausstellung 1931 des Museum für Kunst und Landesgeschichte im Provinzial, Hannover, Germany (1931).
    Meisterwerke der Bildhauerkunst in Frankfurter Privatbesitz, Deutsche und Franzosische Okastik des Mittelalters, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany (1921).
  • {{cite web|title=Saint Jerome and the Lion (From the former Church of St. Peter in Erfurt)|url=false|author=Tilman Riemenschneider|year=c. 1495|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1946.82