The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Saint Jerome

Saint Jerome

c. 1621
(Dutch, 1588–1629)
Framed: 149.2 x 125.4 x 8.3 cm (58 3/4 x 49 3/8 x 3 1/4 in.); Painted surface: 125.5 x 102 cm (49 7/16 x 40 3/16 in.); Tacking margins of oritinal fabric let out: 131.5 x 107 cm (51 3/4 x 42 1/8 in.); Former: 148 x 124.1 x 7 cm (58 1/4 x 48 7/8 x 2 3/4 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

Not all subjects are easy to identify. This museum long thought that the subject was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, largely because tears are part of the standard representation of this ancient thinker. However, ter Brugghen omits the other crucial key to identifying Heraclitus--a globe over which he weeps. Instead, the book and skull indicate that the figure is Saint Jerome, known for translating the Bible into Latin. The artist probably chose to show Jerome crying to intensify his penitence.
  • Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn (Wynnstay, Denbighshire, Wales) (sold, Wyngetts Auction Galleries, Wrexem, Wales, May 12, 1971, lot 489, as "Anonymous: Man Reading with Human Skull at Side," to Trafalgar Galleries).
    Trafalgar Galleries (London, England), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1977.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” May 20, 1977, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 153 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 278-280; Reproduced: p. 279
    Dury, Corentin. Musées d'Orléans: peintures françaises et italiennes XVe - XVIIe siècles. Gent : Editions Snoeck Gand, 2023. Mentioned: p. 136; reproduced: p. 134, fig. 1
  • Omaha, NE: Joslyn Art Museum 9/13 - 11/2/97. Little Rock, AR: Arkansas Art Center 11/20/97 - 2/6/98. Sarasota, FL: John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art 2/27 - 4/26/98. "Hot Dry Men, Cold Wet Women: The Theory of Humor and Depictions of Men and Women in Western European Art of the 1600s." no. 17, pp. 56-57.
    Hot Dry Men, Cold Wet Women: The Theory of Humor and Depictions of Men and Women in Western European Art of the 1600s. Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE (September 13-November 2, 1997); Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock, AR (November 20, 1997-February 6, 1998); John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL (February 27-April 24, 1998).
    CMA, 1978: "Year in Review 1977," CMA Bulletin LXV (January, 1978), cat. no. 45, repr. p. 11
    Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).
    London, Trafalgar Galleries, 1976: "In the Light of Caravaggio," cat. no. 6 (as "St. Jerome in Contemplation, a Skull, Book and Bone on the Table before Him).
  • {{cite web|title=Saint Jerome|url=false|author=Hendrick ter Brugghen|year=c. 1621|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.2