Artwork
Saint Jerome in the Wilderness
Saint Jerome in the Wilderness is an oil painting by the High Renaissance artist Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano. It dates from 1502 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right on scroll: Joannis b[a]pt[ista] C[o]n...
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The wilderness setting, the stone, and the crucifix together convey a contemplative spirituality focused on sacrifice and inner reflection.
The work shows Saint Jerome in a desert landscape, his figure positioned before a wooden crucifix that he gazes upon. He holds a stone in his right hand, using it to strike his chest as a gesture of penitential self‑discipline. The wilderness setting, the stone, and the crucifix together convey a contemplative spirituality focused on sacrifice and inner reflection.
Jerome’s gaunt physique and direct gaze emphasize his role as a hermit scholar, while the stone functions as an attribute of asceticism, and the crucifix serves as the focal point of his devotion. This iconography encapsulates the theme of solitary contemplation and the pursuit of divine love through self‑mortification.
Technique & Style
Executed circa 1500, this work is an oil painting originally created on a wood panel that was subsequently transferred to canvas. The composition measures 48 by 40 centimeters and depicts Saint Jerome in a wilderness setting, holding a stone in his right hand intended for striking his chest while gazing at a wooden cross. Described historically as a small upright format that is highly finished, the piece exhibits the religious genre characteristics typical of Cima da Conegliano.
Although the original support was panel, the current physical state involves the canvas transfer, a conservation intervention often undertaken to stabilize deteriorating wood. The visual narrative focuses on the saint's penitence within a romanticized landscape, maintaining a compact scale suitable for private devotion.
History & Provenance
Cima da Conegliano's Saint Jerome in the Wilderness is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection. The painting was gifted to the museum by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1939. Prior to entering the museum's collection, the work was exhibited for sale at Christie, Manson & Woods in London from November 30 to December 1, 1827, and was later sold in London in 1930 from the Orloff-Davidoff collection.
Context
The painting Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, executed by Cima da Conegliano around 1500, exemplifies the artist’s mature religious output and his engagement with Venetian devotional imagery. Its depiction of the hermit with a stone and a crucifix aligns with a motif Cima revisited in several documented versions, as noted in scholarly surveys of his oeuvre. The work entered the Samuel H. Kress Collection in 1935 after a documented provenance that traces back to a 1827 London sale and now resides at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Art historical analysis situates the composition within early 16th‑century Italian penitential imagery, reflecting both Cima’s stylistic development and the broader diffusion of Saint Jerome iconography across European collections.
Overview
Cima da Conegliano's painting, Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, was created around 1502. This oil on panel, later transferred to canvas, presents a solitary figure of Saint Jerome. The artwork is recognized for its tranquil mood, achieved through the artist's considered use of color and composition. It invites contemplation of the saint's ascetic life in nature.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano
Giovanni Battista Cima, also called Cima da Conegliano (c. 1459 – c. 1517), was an Italian Renaissance painter, who mostly worked in Venice. He can be considered part of the Venetian school, though he was also…
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