Nikola Benin, Ph.D
The historical context of this work comes from original work by Joos van Cleve (1484-1541 Antwerp), who painted numerous religous compositions - including a number of pieces of St. Jerome.
Van Cleve was a master and official in Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke, the common guild for artists, printers, and bookmakers across the Low Countries. As a master, he took pupils, and it is a possibility this work is by one of them (art historians suppose this work dates to after van Cleve's death due to the design of the eyeglasses and bottles on the shelf, both of which were known designs from the mid sixteenth century).
The work shows St. Jerome in his study, a common treatment of the saint in art, given his studious reputation as a scholar and historian. Also present are elements of the "vanitas" paintings popular through the early modern period present: the skull and the extinguished candle. The Latin motto "Homo Bulla," which translates to "man is a soap bubble," is used likewise to speak to the brief, transitory nature of human life.
Yet for all the treatment of human vanity and transience, we have a painting rendered in bright, vibrant colors in the setting of a study full of books surrounded by ornate architecture, giving a bright humanist gloss to the somber undertones.
Van Cleve was a master and official in Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke, the common guild for artists, printers, and bookmakers across the Low Countries. As a master, he took pupils, and it is a possibility this work is by one of them (art historians suppose this work dates to after van Cleve's death due to the design of the eyeglasses and bottles on the shelf, both of which were known designs from the mid sixteenth century).
The work shows St. Jerome in his study, a common treatment of the saint in art, given his studious reputation as a scholar and historian. Also present are elements of the "vanitas" paintings popular through the early modern period present: the skull and the extinguished candle. The Latin motto "Homo Bulla," which translates to "man is a soap bubble," is used likewise to speak to the brief, transitory nature of human life.
Yet for all the treatment of human vanity and transience, we have a painting rendered in bright, vibrant colors in the setting of a study full of books surrounded by ornate architecture, giving a bright humanist gloss to the somber undertones.
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