The J. Paul Getty Museum

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

Object Details

Title:

Saint Jerome in the Wilderness

Artist/Maker:

Ercole de'Roberti (Italian, about 1456 - 1496)

Culture:

Italian

Date:

about 1475

Medium:

Tempera on panel

Object Number:

96.PB.14

Dimensions:

34 × 21.9 cm (13 3/8 × 8 5/8 in.)

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Object Description

For four years, Saint Jerome retreated to the desert to the southeast of Antioch (in modern-day Turkey), where he purified his soul through physical suffering. Seated before the vaulted ruin of his desert hermitage, his wiry limbs, sunken eye sockets, and tanned skin are a testament to the harsh conditions of ascetic life. He directs his gaze to the crucifix that he holds in his left hand. During his time of religious contemplation, Jerome was tormented by vivid temptation-filled hallucinations; his right hand clasps a rock with which he would beat his breast until the visions passed. A nook in the structure behind him holds his attributes: a cardinal’s hat and a book referring to his later work of translating the Bible into Latin. A small lion inside the shelter recalls another episode in Jerome’s life, when he pulled a thorn from a lion’s paw, forever securing the animal’s devotion. 

The elongated forms, taut, linear rhythms, subtle colors, and meticulous, gold-flecked details of this painting indicate that it was intended for a well-off patron with refined taste, perhaps a member of Ferrara’s ruling Este court where Ercole de’ Roberti later became official painter.

Provenance
Provenance
by 1854 -

William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, 1817 - 1885 (Witley Court, Hereford and Worcester, England)
Note: as Cosimo Tura

- 1863

Walter Davenport-Bromley, 1787 - 1863 (London, England; Wooton Hall, Stafford, England; Baginton Hall, Warwick, England) [unsold, Davenport-Bromley sale, Christie's, London, June 13, 1863, lot 125], by inheritance to his son, William Bromley-Davenport, 1863.
Note: as Giovanni Bellini

1863 - 1884

William Bromley-Davenport, 1821 - 1884 (Baginton Hall, Warwick, England), by inheritance to William Bromley-Davenport, 1884.

1884 - 1947

Sir William Bromley-Davenport, 1862 - 1949 (Baginton Hall, Warwick, England; Capesthorne Hall, near Macclesfield, Cheshire, England) [sold, Bromley-Davenport sale, Sotheby's, London, June 11, 1947, lot 5, to Colnaghi.]
Source: Sotheby's, London. Catalogue of Highly Important Paintings by Old Masters. June 11, 1947, p. 3, lot. 5, ill. Sold for £4000 as annotated by Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse.

1947

Colnaghi (London, England; Paris, France), sold to Thomas Dalmahoy Barlow, June 1947.
Source: GRI, Colnaghi Records, Old Master Paintings Stock, no. A 2367.

1947 - 1964

Sir Thomas Dalmahoy Barlow, 1883 - 1964 (London, England), by inheritance to his son, Basil Stephen Barlow, 1964.

1964 - 1991

Basil Stephen Barlow, 1918 - 1991 (London, England), by inheritance to his heirs, 1991.

1991 - 1996

Heirs of Basil Stephen Barlow, 1918 - 1991 (London, England) [unsold, as "property of a lady," Christie's, London, December 13, 1991, lot 76], sold through Simon Dickinson Ltd. (London) to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Italian Art from the 13th Century to the 17th Century (August 18 to October 2, 1955)
Art Treasures Centenary: European Old Masters (October 30 to December 31, 1957)
  • Manchester Art Gallery (Manchester), October 30 to December 31, 1957
Italian Art and Britain (January 2 to March 6, 1960)
  • Royal Academy of Arts (London), January 2 to March 6, 1960
From Borso to Cesare d'Este: The School of Ferrara 1450 - 1628 (June 1 to August 1, 1984)
  • Matthiesen Fine Art Ltd. (London), June 1 to August 1, 1984
La minatura a Ferrara dal tempo di Cosmè Tura al primo Cinquecento (March 1 to May 31, 1998)
  • Museo Civico di Schifanoia (Ferrara), March 1 to May 31, 1998
The Gualenghi d'Este Hours (May 9 to July 30, 2000)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), May 9 to July 30, 2000
Cosmè Tura e Francesco del Cossa: L'arte a Ferrara nell'età di Borso d'Este (September 23, 2007 to January 6, 2008)
  • Palazzo dei Diamanti (Ferrara), September 23, 2007 to January 6, 2008
Renaissance Splendors of the Northern Italian Courts (March 31 to June 21, 2015)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), March 31 to June 21, 2015
Ercole De’ Roberti in Focus. Conserving Two Renaissance Masterpieces (June 18 to September 1, 2019)
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles), June 18 to September 1, 2019
Bibliography
Bibliography

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Christie, Manson & Woods, London. Catalogue of the Celebrated Collection of Pictures of the Rev. Walter Davenport Bromley. June 12, 1863, p. 20, lot 125.

Borenius, Tancred, ed. A History of Painting in North Italy. 3 vols. (London: John Murray, 1912), vol. 2, p. 229.

Colnaghi, London. Catalogue of Paintings by Old Masters. November-December, 1947, unpaginated, lot 6, ill.

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Gronau, H. D. "Ercole Roberti's Saint Jerome." Burlington Magazine 91, no. 558 (September 1949), pp. 242-44, fig. 1.

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