''St. Jerome at Prayer'' is a painting of
St. Jerome by the
Netherlandish artist
Hieronymus Bosch, thought to have been completed c. 1482. Today it is housed at the
Museum of Fine Arts in
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...
.
History
The work is known only from its acquisition by the museum in 1908. As for most of Bosch's works, dating has been long disputed, dates having varied from 1490–1500 to 1495–1505. However,
dendochronologic analysis has proved that it has been painted not after 1482.
Description
St. Jerome was a frequent subject of 15th-century European art, depicted in his studio or during his penitence in the desert. Bosch for this picture adopted the latter iconography, although his saint is prone instead of kneeling. He is praying with a crucifix in his arms, also an unusual gesture of communion with Christ.
Jerome lies on a rock located under a kind of shell-like cave. He is surrounded by his traditional symbols (the lion – although in this case it has a smaller size than usual – the
galero
A (plural: ; from la, galērum, originally connotating a helmet made of skins; cf. '' galea'') is a broad-brimmed hat with tasselated strings which was worn by clergy in the Catholic Church. Over the centuries, the red ''galero'' was restricte ...
, the Bible), but Bosch, as common in his works, also added some bizarre elements, such as the bony pig or the spherical shell emerging from the pool . This could symbolize the world floating towards decay.
An
owl and
little owl
The little owl (''Athene noctua''), also known as the owl of Athena or owl of Minerva, is a bird that inhabits much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, the Palearctic east to Korea, and North Africa. It was introduced into Britain at ...
are depicted on a branch: they allude, respectively, to heresy and the struggle against heresy. The
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
tables can be seen above the cave. The landscape is wide, in green tones.
See also
*
List of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
''The Tricks of Leonardo da Vinci & Hieronymus Bosch'' Xavier d'Hérouville & Aurore Caulier. December 2023. ''HAL Open Science''
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Jerome At Prayer (Bosch)
1480s paintings
Paintings by Hieronymus Bosch
Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent
Bosch
Lions in art
Birds in art