Saint Jérôme
Jusepe de Ribera·1633
Historical Context
Saint Jerome in the Louvre, painted in 1633, depicts the Church Father and translator of the Bible. Ribera painted Saint Jerome more than any other subject, finding in the scholarly saint an ideal vehicle for combining intellectual authority with physical naturalism. Ribera painted his saints with unflinching naturalism rooted in his early study of Caravaggio's Rome before settling in Naples in 1616. Working under Spanish viceregal patronage, he produced devotional images combining brutal phy...
Technical Analysis
Jerome's aged body is illuminated by directed light against deep shadows. Ribera renders the wrinkled flesh and scholarly attributes with the unflinching naturalism that defined Neapolitan Baroque painting.
