_Lat._ Sanctus Hieronymus. _Ital._ San Geronimo or Girolamo. _Fr._ St.
Jérome, Hiérome, or Géroisme. _Ger._ Der Heilige Hieronimus. Patron of
scholars and students, and more particularly of students in theology.
(Sept. 30, A.D. 420.)
Of the four Latin Doctors, St. Jerome, as a subject of painting, is
by far the most popular. The reasons for this are not merely the
exceedingly interesting and striking character of the man, and the
picturesque incidents of his life, but also his great importance and
dignity as founder of Monachism in the West, and as author of the
universally received translation of the Old and New Testament into the
Latin language (called ‘The Vulgate’). There is scarcely a collection
of pictures in which we do not find a St. Jerome, either doing penance
in the desert, or writing his famous translation, or meditating on the
mystery of the Incarnation.
* * * * *
Jerome was born about A.D. 342, at Stridonium, in Dalmatia. His father,
Eusebius, was rich; and as he showed the happiest disposition for
learning, he was sent to Rome to finish his studies. There, through
his own passions, and the evil example of his companions, he fell into
temptation, and for a time abandoned himself to worldly pleasures. But
the love of virtue, as well as the love of learning, was still strong
within him: he took up the profession of law, and became celebrated
for his eloquence in pleading before the tribunals. When more than
thirty, he travelled into Gaul, and visited the schools of learning
there. It was about this time that he was baptized, and vowed himself
to perpetual celibacy. In 373, he travelled into the East, to animate
his piety by dwelling for a time among the scenes hallowed by the
presence of the Saviour; and, on his way thither, he visited some of
the famous Oriental hermits and ascetics, of whom he has given us such
a graphic account, and whose example inspired him with a passion for
solitude and a monastic life. Shortly after his arrival in Syria, he
retired to a desert in Chalcis, on the confines of Arabia, and there
he spent four years in study and seclusion, supporting himself by the
labour of his hands. He has left us a most vivid picture of his life of
penance in the wilderness; of his trials and temptations, his fastings,
his sickness of soul and body: and we must dwell for a moment on his
own description, in order to show with what literal and circumstantial
truth the painters have rendered it. He says, in one of his epistles,
‘Oh how often, in the desert, in that vast solitude which, parched by
the sultry sun, affords a dwelling to the monks, did I fancy myself
in the midst of the luxuries of Rome! I sate alone, for I was full of
bitterness. My misshapen limbs were rough with sackcloth, and my skin
so squalid that I might have been mistaken for an Ethiopian. Tears
and groans were my occupation every day and all day long. If sleep
surprised me unawares, my naked bones, which scarcely held together,
rattled on the earth.’ His companions, he says, ‘were scorpions and
wild beasts;’ his home, ‘a recess among rocks and precipices.’ Yet,
in the midst of this horrible self-torture and self-abasement, he
describes himself as frequently beset by temptations to sin and sensual
indulgence, and haunted by demons: at other times, as consoled by
voices and visions from heaven. Besides these trials of the flesh and
the spirit, he had others of the intellect. His love of learning, his
admiration of the great writers of classical antiquity,—of Plato and
Cicero,—made him impatient of the rude simplicity of the Christian
historians. He describes himself as fasting before he opened Cicero;
and, as a further penance, he forced himself to study Hebrew, which
at first filled him with disgust, and this disgust appeared to him a
capital sin. In one of his distempered visions, he fancied he heard
the last trumpet sounded in his ear by an angel, and summoning him
before the judgment-seat of God. ‘Who art thou?’ demanded the awful
voice. ‘A Christian,’ replied the trembling Jerome. ‘‘Tis false!’
replied the voice, ‘thou art no Christian: thou art a Ciceronian.
Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also.’ He persevered,
and conquered the difficulties of Hebrew; and then, wearied by the
religious controversies in the East, after ten years’ residence there,
he returned to Rome.
But neither the opposition he had met with, nor his four years of
solitude and penance in the desert, had subdued the fiery enthusiasm of
temperament which characterised this celebrated man. At Rome he boldly
combated the luxurious self-indulgence of the clergy, and preached
religious abstinence and mortification. He was particularly remarkable
for the influence he obtained over the Roman women; we find them,
subdued or excited by his eloquent exhortations, devoting themselves
to perpetual chastity, distributing their possessions among the poor,
or spending their days in attendance on the sick, and ready to follow
their teacher to the Holy Land—to the desert—even to death. His most
celebrated female convert was Paula, a noble Roman matron, a descendant
of the Scipios and the Gracchi. Marcella, another of these Roman
ladies, was the first who, in the East, collected together a number
of pious women to dwell together in community: hence she is, by some
authors, considered as the first nun; but others contend that Martha,
the sister of Mary Magdalene, was the first who founded a religious
community of women.
After three years’ sojourn at Rome, St. Jerome returned to Palestine,
and took up his residence in a monastery he had founded at Bethlehem.
When, in extreme old age, he became sensible of the approach of death,
he raised with effort his emaciated limbs, and, commanding himself to
be carried into the chapel of the monastery, he received the Sacrament
for the last time from the hands of the priest, and soon after expired.
He died in 420, leaving, besides his famous translation of the
Scriptures, numerous controversial writings, epistles, and commentaries.
* * * * *
We read in the legendary history of St. Jerome, that one evening, as
he sat within the gates of his monastery at Bethlehem, a lion entered,
limping, as in pain; and all the brethren, when they saw the lion, fled
in terror: but Jerome arose, and went forward to meet him, as though he
had been a guest. And the lion lifted up his paw, and St. Jerome, on
examining it, found that it was wounded by a thorn, which he extracted;
and he tended the lion till he was healed. The grateful beast remained
with his benefactor, and Jerome confided to him the task of guarding
an ass which was employed in bringing firewood from the forest. On one
occasion, the lion having gone to sleep while the ass was at pasture,
some merchants passing by carried away the latter; and the lion, after
searching for him in vain, returned to the monastery with drooping
head, as one ashamed. St. Jerome, believing that he had devoured his
companion, commanded that the daily task of the ass should be laid upon
the lion, and that the faggots should be bound on his back, to which
he magnanimously submitted, until the ass was recovered; which was in
this wise. One day, the lion, having finished his task, ran hither and
thither, still seeking his companion; and he saw a caravan of merchants
approaching, and a string of camels, which, according to the Arabian
custom, were led by an ass; and when the lion recognised his friend, he
drove the camels into the convent, and so terrified the merchants, that
they confessed the theft, and received pardon from St. Jerome.
The introduction of the lion into pictures of St. Jerome is supposed
to refer to this legend; but in this instance, as in many others, the
reverse was really the case. The lion was in very ancient times adopted
as the symbol befitting St. Jerome, from his fervid, fiery nature, and
his life in the wilderness; and in later times, the legend invented to
explain the symbol was gradually expanded into the story as given above.
* * * * *
Representations of St. Jerome, in pictures, prints, and sculpture,
are so numerous that it were in vain to attempt to give any detailed
account of them, even of the most remarkable. All, however, may be
included under the following classification, and, according to the
descriptions given, may be easily recognised.
The devotional subjects and single figures represent St. Jerome in
one of his three great characters. 1. As Patron Saint and Doctor of
the Church. 2. As Translator and Commentator of the Scriptures. 3. As
Penitent. As Doctor of the Church, and teacher, he enters into every
scheme of decoration, and finds a place in all sacred buildings. As
Saint and Penitent, he is chiefly to be found in the convents and
churches of the Jeronymites, who claim him as their Patriarch.
When placed before us as the patron saint and father of divinity, he is
usually standing full length, either habited in the cardinal’s robes,
or with the cardinal’s hat lying at his feet. It may be necessary to
observe, that there is no historical authority for making St. Jerome
a cardinal. Cardinal-priests were not ordained till three centuries
later; but as the other fathers were all of high ecclesiastical rank,
and as St. Jerome obstinately refused all such distinction, it has
been thought necessary, for the sake of his dignity, to make him a
cardinal: another reason may be, that he performed, in the court of
Pope Dalmasius, those offices since discharged by the cardinal-deacon.
In some of the old Venetian pictures, instead of the official robes of
a cardinal, he is habited in loose ample red drapery, part of which is
thrown over his head. When represented with his head uncovered, his
forehead is lofty and bald, his beard is very long, flowing even to his
girdle; his features fine and sharp, his nose aquiline. In his hand
he holds a book or a scroll, and frequently the emblematical church,
of which he was the great support and luminary: and, to make the
application stronger and clearer, rays of light are seen issuing from
the door of the church.
1. A signal instance of the treatment of Jerome as patron saint occurs
in a fine picture by Wohlgemuth, the master of Albert Dürer.[253] It
is an altar-piece representing the glorification of the saint, and
consists of three compartments. In the centre, St. Jerome _stands_ on
a magnificent throne, and lays his left hand on the head of a lion,
raised up on his hind legs: the donors of the picture, a man and a
woman, kneel in front; on each side are windows opening on a landscape,
wherein various incidents of the life of St. Jerome are represented;
on the right, his Penance in the Wilderness and his Landing at Cyprus;
and on the left, the merchants who had carried off the ass bring
propitiatory gifts, which the saint rejects, and other men are seen
felling wood and loading the lion. On the inner shutters or wings of
the central picture, are represented, on the right, the three other
doctors,—St. Augustine, with the flaming heart; St. Ambrose, with
the bee-hive; both habited as bishops; and St. Gregory, wearing his
tiara, and holding a large book (his famous Homilies) in his hand. On
the left, three apostles with their proper attributes, St. Andrew, St.
Thomas, and St. Bartholomew; on the other side are represented, to the
right, St. Henry II. holding a church (the cathedral of Bamberg), and
a sword, his proper attributes; and his wife St. Cunegunda.[254] On
the left St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Martin. There are besides,
to close in the whole, two outer doors: on the inner side, to the
right, St. Joseph and St. Kilian;[255] on the left, St. Catherine and
St. Ursula; and on the exterior of the whole the mass of St. Gregory,
with various personages and objects connected with the Passion of
Christ. The whole is about six feet high, dated 1511, and may bear
a comparison, for elaborate and multifarious detail and exquisite
painting, with the famous Van Eyck altar-piece in St. John’s Church at
Ghent.[256]
2. In his character of patron, St. Jerome is a frequent subject of
sculpture. There is a Gothic figure of him in Henry the Seventh’s
Chapel, habited in the cardinal’s robes, the lion fawning upon him.
When St. Jerome is represented in his second great character, as the
translator of the Scriptures, he is usually seated in a cave or in a
cell, busied in reading or in writing; he wears a loose robe thrown
over his wasted form; and either he looks down intent on his book, or
he looks up as if awaiting heavenly inspiration: sometimes an angel is
dictating to him.
* * * * *
1. In an old Italian print, which I have seen, he is seated on the
ground reading, in _spectacles_;—an anachronism frequent in the old
painters. Sometimes he is seated under the shade of a tree; or within
a cavern, writing at a rude table formed of a stump of a tree, or a
board laid across two fragments of rock; as in a beautiful picture by
Ghirlandajo, remarkable for its solemn and tranquil feeling.[257]
2. Very celebrated is an engraving of this subject by Albert Dürer. The
scene is the interior of a cell, at Bethlehem; two windows on the left
pour across the picture a stream of sunshine, which is represented with
wonderful effect. St. Jerome is seen in the background, seated at a
desk, most intently writing his translation of the Scriptures; in front
the lion is crouching, and a fox is seen asleep. These two animals
are here emblems;—the one, of the courage and vigilance, the other of
the wisdom or acuteness, of the saint. The execution of this print is
a miracle of Art, and it is very rare. There is an exquisite little
picture by Elzheimer copied from it, and of the same size, at Hampton
Court. I need hardly observe, that here the rosary and the pot of holy
water are anachronisms, as well as the cardinal’s hat. By Albert Dürer
we have also St. Jerome writing in a cavern; and St. Jerome reading in
his cell: both woodcuts.
3. Even more beautiful is a print by Lucas v. Leyden, in which St.
Jerome is reclining in his cell and reading intently; the lion licks
his foot.
4. In a picture by Lucas Cranach, Albert of Brandenburg, elector of
Mayence (1527), is represented in the character of St. Jerome, seated
in the wilderness, and writing at a table formed of a plank laid across
two stumps of trees: he is in the cardinal-robes; and in the foreground
a lion, a hare, a beaver, a partridge, and a hind, beautifully
painted, express the solitude of his life. In the background the
caravan of merchants is seen entering the gate of the monastery,
conducted by the faithful lion.
5. The little picture by Domenichino, in our National Gallery,
represents St. Jerome looking up from his book, and listening to the
accents of the angel. 6. In a picture by Tiarini,[258] it is St. John
the Evangelist, and not an angel, who dictates while he writes. 7. In
a picture by Titian, St. Jerome, seated, holds a book, and gazes up at
a crucifix suspended in the skies; the lion is drinking at a fountain.
Out of twenty prints of St. Jerome after Titian, there are at least
eight which represent him at study or writing.
* * * * *
It is in the double character of Doctor of the Church, and translator
of the Scriptures, that we find St. Jerome so frequently introduced
into pictures of the Madonna, and grouped with other saints. Two of
the most celebrated pictures in the world suggest themselves here as
examples:—1. ‘The Madonna della Pesce’ of Raphael; where the Virgin,
seated on a raised throne, holds the Infant Christ in her arms; on
her right hand, the archangel Raphael presents the young Tobias, who
holds the fish, the emblem of Christianity or Baptism. On the other
side kneels St. Jerome, holding an open book, his beard sweeping to his
girdle; the lion at his feet; the Infant Christ, while he bends forward
to greet Tobias, has one hand upon St. Jerome’s book: the whole is a
beautiful and expressive allegory.[259] 2. Correggio’s picture, called
‘The St. Jerome of Parma,’ represents the Infant Christ on the knees of
his mother: Mary Magdalene bends to kiss his feet: St. Jerome stands in
front, presenting his translation of the Scriptures.
[Illustration: 85 St. Jerome doing Penance (Titian)]
The penitent St. Jerome seems to have been adopted throughout the
Christian Church as the approved symbol of Christian penitence,
self-denial, and self-abasement. No devotional subject, if we except
the ‘Madonna and Child’ and the ‘Magdalene,’ is of such perpetual
recurrence. In the treatment it has been infinitely varied. The scene
is generally a wild rocky solitude: St. Jerome, half naked, emaciated,
with matted hair and beard, is seen on his knees before a crucifix,
beating his breast with a stone. The lion is almost always introduced,
sometimes asleep, or crouching at his feet; sometimes keeping guard,
sometimes drinking at a stream. The most magnificent example of this
treatment is by Titian:[260] St. Jerome, kneeling on one knee, half
supported by a craggy rock, and holding the stone, looks up with eager
devotion to a cross, artlessly fixed into a cleft in the rock; two
books lie on a cliff behind; at his feet are a skull and hour-glass;
and the lion reposes in front. The feeling of deep solitude, and a kind
of sacred horror breathed over this picture, are inconceivably fine and
impressive. Another by Titian, but inferior, is in the Louvre; and
there are at least twelve engravings of St. Jerome doing penance, after
the same painter: among them a superb landscape, in which are seen
a lion and a lioness prowling in the wilderness, while the saint is
doing penance in the foreground. By Agostino Caracci there is a famous
engraving of ‘St. Jerome doing penance in a cave,’ called from its size
the _great_ St. Jerome. But to particularise further would be endless:
I know scarcely any Italian painter since the fifteenth century who has
not treated this subject at least once.
The Spanish painters have rendered it with a gloomy power, and
revelled in its mystic significance. In the Spanish gallery of the
Louvre I counted at least twenty St. Jeromes: the old German painters
and engravers also delighted in it, on account of its picturesque
capabilities.
Albert Dürer represents St. Jerome kneeling before a crucifix, which he
has suspended against the trunk of a massy tree; an open book is near
it; he holds in his right hand a flint-stone, with which he is about
to strike his breast, all wounded and bleeding from the blows already
inflicted; the lion crouches behind him, and in the distance is a stag.
The penitent St. Jerome is not a good subject for sculpture; the
undraped, meagre form, and the abasement of suffering, are disagreeable
in this treatment: yet such representations are constantly met with in
churches. The famous colossal statue by Torrigiano, now in the Museum
at Seville, represents St. Jerome kneeling on a rock, a stone in one
hand, a crucifix in the other. At Venice, in the Frari, there is a
statue of St. Jerome, standing, with the stone in his hand and the lion
at his feet; too majestic for the Penitent. There are several other
statues of St. Jerome at Venice, from the Liberi and Lombardi schools,
all fine as statues; but the penitent saint is idealised into the
patron-saint of penitents.
When figures of St. Jerome as penitent are introduced in Madonna
pictures, or in the Passion of Christ, then such figures are
devotional, and symbolical, in a general sense, of Christian repentance.
There is an early picture of the Crucifixion, by Raphael,[261] in
which he has placed St. Jerome at the foot of the cross, beating his
breast with a stone(86).
[Illustration: 86 St. Jerome, as Penitent, in a Crucifixion (Raphael)]
The pictures from the life of St. Jerome comprise a variety of
subjects:—1. ‘He receives the cardinal’s hat from the Virgin:’
sometimes it is the Infant Christ, seated in the lap of the Virgin,
who presents it to him. 2. ‘He disputes with the Jewish doctors on
the truth of the Christian religion;’ in a curious picture by Juan
de Valdes.[262] He stands on one side of a table in an attitude of
authority: the rabbis, each of whom has a demon looking over his
shoulder, are searching their books for arguments against him. 3. ‘St.
Jerome, while studying Hebrew in the solitude of Chalcida, hears in a
vision the sound of the last trumpet, calling men to judgment.’ This is
a common subject, and styled ‘The Vision of St. Jerome.’ I have met
with no example earlier than the fifteenth century. In general he is
lying on the ground, and an angel sounds the trumpet from above. In a
composition by Ribera he holds a pen in one hand and a penknife in the
other: he seems to have been arrested in the very act of mending his
pen by the blast of the trumpet: the figure of the saint, wasted even
to skin and bone, and his look of petrified amazement, are very fine,
notwithstanding the commonplace action. In a picture by Subleyras, in
the Louvre, St. Jerome is gazing upwards, with an astonished look;
three archangels sound their trumpets from above. In a picture by
Antonio Pereda, at Madrid, St. Jerome not only hears in his vision
the sound of the last trump, he _sees_ the dead arise from their
graves around him. Lastly, by way of climax, I may mention a picture
in the Louvre, by a modern French painter, Sigalon: St. Jerome is in
a convulsive fit, and the three angels, blowing their trumpets in his
ears, are like furies sent to torment and madden the sinner, rather
than to rouse the saint.
* * * * *
While doing penance in the desert, St. Jerome was sometimes haunted by
temptations, as well as amazed by terrors.
4. Domenichino, in one of the frescoes in St. Onofrio, represents the
particular kind of temptation by which the saint was in imagination
assailed: while he is fervently praying and beating his breast, a
circle of beautiful nymphs, seen in the background, weave a graceful
dance. Vasari has had the bad taste to give us a penitent St. Jerome
with Venus and Cupids in the background: one arch little Cupid takes
aim at him;—an offensive instance of the extent to which, in the
sixteenth century, classical ideas had mingled with and depraved
Christian Art.[263]
5. Guido. ‘St. Jerome translating the Scriptures while an angel
dictates:’ life size and very fine (except the angel, who is weak, and
reminds one of a water-nymph[264]); in his pale manner.
* * * * *
6. Domenichino. ‘St. Jerome is flagellated by an angel for preferring
Cicero to the Hebrew writings:’ also in the St. Onofrio. The Cicero,
torn from his hand, lies at his feet. Here the saint is a young man,
and the whole scene is represented as a vision.
7. But St. Jerome was comforted by visions of glory, as well as haunted
by terrors and temptations. In the picture by Parmigiano, in our
National Gallery, St. Jerome is sleeping in the background, while St.
John the Baptist points upwards to a celestial vision of the Virgin
and Child, seen in the opening heavens above: the upper part of this
picture is beautiful, and full of dignity; but the saint is lying
stretched on the earth in an attitude so uneasy and distorted, that it
would seem as if he were condemned to do penance even in his sleep; and
the St. John has always appeared to me mannered and theatrical.
[Illustration: 87 St. Jerome and the Lion (Coll’ Antonio da Fiore)
Naples]
8. The story of the lion is often represented. St. Jerome is seated in
his cell, attired in the monk’s habit and cowl; the lion approaches,
and lays his paw upon his knee; a cardinal’s hat and books are lying
near him; and, to express the self-denial of the saint, a mouse is
peeping into an empty cup (87).[265]
In another example, by Vittore Carpaccio, the lion enters the cell, and
three monks, attendants on St. Jerome, flee in terror.
* * * * *
9. The Last Communion of St. Jerome is the subject of one of the most
celebrated pictures in the world,—the St. Jerome of Domenichino, which
has been thought worthy of being placed opposite to the Transfiguration
of Raphael, in the Vatican. The aged saint—feeble, emaciated, dying—is
borne in the arms of his disciples to the chapel of his monastery,
and placed within the porch. A young priest sustains him; St. Paula,
kneeling, kisses one of his thin bony hands; the saint fixes his eager
eyes on the countenance of the priest, who is about to administer the
sacrament,—a noble dignified figure in a rich ecclesiastical dress;
a deacon holds the cup, and an attendant priest the book and taper;
the lion droops his head with an expression of grief; the eyes and
attention of all are on the dying saint, while four angels, hovering
above, look down upon the scene.
Agostino Caracci, in a grand picture now in the Bologna Gallery, had
previously treated the same subject with much feeling and dramatic
power: but here the saint is not so wasted and so feeble; St. Paula is
not present, and the lion is tenderly licking his feet.
Older than either, and very beautiful and solemn, is a picture by
Vittore Carpaccio, in which the saint is kneeling in the porch of a
church, surrounded by his disciples, and the lion is seen outside.
10. ‘The Death of St. Jerome.’ In the picture by Starnina he is giving
his last instructions to his disciples, and the expression of solemn
grief in the old heads around is very fine. In a Spanish picture he is
extended on a couch, made of hurdles, and expires in the arms of his
monks.
In a very fine anonymous print, dated 1614, St. Jerome is dying alone
in his cell (this version of the subject is contrary to all authority
and precedent): he presses to his bosom the Gospel and the crucifix;
the lion looks up in his face roaring, and angels bear away his soul to
heaven.
11. ‘The Obsequies of St. Jerome.’ In the picture by Vittore Carpaccio,
the saint is extended on the ground before the high altar, and the
priests around are kneeling in various attitudes of grief or devotion.
The lion is seen on one side.[266]
* * * * *
I will mention here some other pictures in which St. Jerome figures as
the principal personage.
St. Jerome introducing Charles V. into Paradise is the subject of a
large fresco, by Luca Giordano, on the staircase of the Escurial.
St. Jerome conversing with two nuns, probably intended for St. Paula
and St. Marcella.[267]
The sleep of St. Jerome. He is watched by two angels, one of whom, with
his finger on his lip, commands silence.[268]
* * * * *
It is worth remarking, that in the old Venetian pictures St. Jerome
does not wear the proper habit and hat of a cardinal, but an ample
scarlet robe, part of which is thrown over his head as a hood (88).
[Illustration: 88 Venetian St. Jerome]
* * * * *
The history of St. Jerome, in a series, is often found in the churches
and convents of the Jeronymites, and generally consists of the
following subjects, of which the fourth and sixth are often omitted:—
1. He is baptized. 2. He receives the cardinal’s hat from the Virgin.
3. He does penance in the desert, beating his breast with a stone.
4. He meets St. Augustine. 5. He is studying or writing in a cell.
6. He builds the convent at Bethlehem. 7. He heals the wounded lion.
8. He receives the Last Sacrament. 9. He dies in the presence of his
disciples. 10. He is buried.
* * * * *
Considering that St. Jerome has ever been venerated as one of the great
lights of the Church, it is singular that so few churches are dedicated
to him. There is one at Rome, erected, according to tradition, on the
very spot where stood the house of Santa Paula, where she entertained
St. Jerome during his sojourn at Rome in 382. For the high altar of
this church, Domenichino painted his masterpiece of the Communion of
St. Jerome already described. The embarkation of Saint Paula, to follow
her spiritual teacher St. Jerome to the Holy Land, is the subject of
one of Claude’s most beautiful sea pieces, now in the collection of the
Duke of Wellington; another picture of this subject, the figures as
large as life, is in the Brera, by a clever Cremonese painter, Giuseppe
Bottoni.
* * * * *
St. Jerome has detained its long; the other Fathers are, as subjects of
Art, much less interesting.