Landscape with Saint Jerome and the Lion

Dughet's Landscape with Saint Jerome and the Lion of around 1640 combines the devotional hermit-landscape tradition with his own dramatic Roman scenery. The subject — Jerome meditating in the wilderness with the lion he had befriended — was treated by landscape painters as an opportunity to explore wild, untamed nature charged with spiritual meaning. Dughet was known for his ability to capture the specific quality of Italian mountain and forest light, which distinguished his work from the warmer, more golden effects of Claude Lorrain.

Massive trees and rocky outcrops dominate the composition, with Jerome and his lion reduced to small figures in a vast, turbulent landscape. Dughet's characteristic stormy sky and sharp contrasts of light and shadow give the scene a wild, elemental energy.