''St Jerome in the Wilderness'' is a

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

on panel painting, measuring 48 by 36 cm and attributed to

Andrea Mantegna Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order ...

. It dates to between 1449 and 1450 and is now in the

São Paulo Museum of Art The São Paulo Museum of Art ( pt, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, or ') is an art museum located on Paulista Avenue in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It is well known for its headquarters, a 1968 concrete and glass structure designed by Lina Bo B ...

.Catalogue page
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History

It is usually thought of as an early work by the artist, shortly after he left the studio of

Francesco Squarcione Francesco Squarcione (''c.'' 1395 – after 1468) was an Italian artist from Padua. His pupils included Andrea Mantegna (with whom he had many legal battles), Cosimo Tura and Carlo Crivelli. There are only two works signed by him: the ''Mad ...

in 1448, enabling him to shift from religious works for third parties to private commissions in a variety of genres, such as this one, thought to have been commissioned by the humanist and poet Ulisse degli Aleotti. It probably also relates to his first trip to

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

in 1449 to work at the court of

Leonello d'Este Leonello d'Este (also spelled Lionello; 21 September 1407 – 1 October 1450) was Marquess of Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio Emilia from 1441 to 1450. Despite the presence of legitimate children, Leonello was favoured by his father as his successor ...

. The Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin holds a drawing of St Jerome with a lion, dating to around the same time, with a depiction of the saint that has many similarities to that of the painting, but in a different pose - it may be a preparatory drawing for this composition or a study for another now-lost work. The painting merges Jerome the scholar and Jerome the ascetic, the two predominant modes for depicting him. The abandoned sandal in the foreground has probably been borrowed from Flemish works, which Mantegna could have seen in the Este collections. Two hammers are resting on a beam hanging in the cave, possibly referring to Christ's Passion, whilst perched above the cave entrance is a barn owl, traditionally linked to magic and superstition, which Jerome and Ulisse fight with the light of reason.

References

{{Andrea Mantegna Paintings by Andrea Mantegna Mantegna Books in art Lions in art