The Penitence of Saint Jerome

Joachim Patinir painted this Penitence of Saint Jerome around 1513 for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Patinir's treatment of the penitent saint allows the landscape to dominate, reducing Jerome to a small figure within a vast cosmic panorama that was revolutionary in the history of Western painting. The oil medium allowed for rich tonal transitions and glazed layers of color that created luminous depth impossible with the older tempera technique. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

The painting exemplifies Patinir's pioneering landscape vision with its sweeping panoramic vista, three-zone color progression, and the tiny figure of Jerome embedded within a natural world of extraordinary breadth and atmospheric depth.