Landscape with St Jerome

Saint Jerome meditates in a landscape setting in this 1670 painting at the Conde Museum in Chantilly, one of Rosa"s late works produced in the last years before his death in 1673. Jerome in the wilderness was a subject Rosa shared with many earlier Italian painters, but his treatment characteristically emphasizes the wildness of the landscape over the scholarly attributes traditionally associated with the saint. The Conde Museum at Chantilly houses one of France"s finest collections of old master paintings.

The landscape envelops the saint"s small figure, with massive trees and rocky outcroppings creating a natural cave or shelter for contemplation. Rosa"s late brushwork shows the confidence and economy of an artist who had spent decades painting wilderness scenes, with fewer strokes achieving the same dramatic effects. The palette is dark and warm, with the saint"s pale flesh and the white of his book providing the brightest accents against the prevailing earth tones.