Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

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Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

Place of OriginItaly, possibly Venice

Dateearly 16th century

Dimensions33 3/16 × 24 1/2 in. (84.3 × 62.2 cm)
Frame: 39 1/4 × 30 1/8 × 3 1/4 in. (99.7 × 76.5 × 8.3 cm)

MediumOil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1940.43

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 19

Label TextSaint Jerome (342-420) kneels in prayer in a fantastic landscape inhabited by peasants, monks, and animals, including a peacock, a deer, and a sleeping lion. The lion refers to a story in the Golden Legend, a popular medieval book devoted to the lives of the saints, in which Jerome miraculously healed and tamed the injured beast. It became his faithful companion, even bringing firewood to Jerome and his followers (note the woodcutters). Behind Jerome, in the distance, is a symbolic representation of Rome, a city he abandoned for a more spiritual life in the Holy Land. There, as depicted in this painting, he lived as a monk in the wilderness. One of the most important figures in the development of the early Christian church, Jerome is shown surrounded by books—a reference to his devotion to scriptural studies, his fame as an author, and his authoritative translation of the Old and New Testaments into Latin.Published ReferencesTietze, Hans, "St. Jerome in the Wilderness by Gentile Bellini," Art in America, XXVIII, July 1940, pp. 110-115, repr.

Parnassus, vol. 12, Mar. 1940., p. 24, repr.

Tietze, Hans, "A Notable Work of Gentile Bellini," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, no. 93, Mar. 1941, repr. pp. 3-10.

Comstock, H., "Early Work by Gentile Bellini Acquired by Toledo Museum: St. Jerome," Connoisseur, vol. 108, Dec. 1941, pp. 201-202, repr.

Godwin, Molly Ohl, "Capolavori Italiani al 'Toledo Museum of Art'" Le Vie del Mondo, vol. 14, 1952, p. 1156, repr. p. 1152.

Coletti, L., Pittura veneta del quattrocento, Novara, 1953, pp. XLV, LXXXII, n. 58 (attr. to Parentino).

Godwin, Molly Ohl, Master Works in the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1953, p. 10, repr. (col.), p. 11.

Myers, Bernard S., ed., Encyclopedia of Painting, New York, Crown Publisheres, 1955, p. 30, repr. (col.).

Godwin, Molly Ohl, "Toledo Museum of Art: Post-War Additions," Connoisseur, vol. 136, Oct. 1955, p. 133-140, repr. 136.

Berenson, B. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, New York, 1957, I, p. 26 (attr. to Bastiani).

Collins, H., "Gentile Bellini: A Monograph and Catalogue of Works," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1970, no. 71 (rejected as Gentile Bellini).

Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Collections, Cambridge, MA, 1972, pp. 20, 409 (attr. to Bastiani).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 84, pl. 9.

Friedmann, Herbert, A Bestiary for Saint Jerome, Washington, D.C., 1980, pp. 118, 124, 161, 193, 205, 211, 217, 221, 268, 285, 289, 296, repr. figs. 26-28, pp. 52, 53 (as Bellini).

Heinemann, Fritz, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, vol. 3, Hildesheim, 1991, p. 78, fig. 187, p. 295.

Wamberg, Jacob, Landscape as World Picture: Tracing Cultural Evolution in Images, Aarhus, Aarhus University Press, 2009, vol. 2, p. 215, fig. 11.43, p. 217.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Four Centuries of Venetian Painting, 1940, no. 4, repr.