1961.100.3
St. Jerome in the Wilderness
Artist
Biagio d'Antonio da Firenze
(Florence, Italy, 1446 - 1516, Florence, Italy)
Title
St. Jerome in the Wilderness
Creation Date
ca. 1476
Century
15th century
Dimensions
55 1/2 in. x 20 7/8 in. (141 cm. x 53 cm.)
Object Type
painting
Creation Place
Europe, Italy
Medium and Support
tempera on panel
Credit Line
Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
1961.100.3
This large and impressive painting was once the left door of a now-dismembered three-partite altarpiece that most likely had an enthroned Madonna and Child as its central panel. St. Jerome is depicted as a heroic figure, his posture inspired by the classic contrapposto, or weight-shift, found in ancient sculpture, accentuated by the clinging drapery that delineates the body beneath it.
Biagio was a Florentine artist strongly influenced by his contemporaries Verrocchio and Ghirlandaio. Flemish painting might also have counted among his sources (examples of which he could have seen in Florence), reflected in his crystalline color and detailed landscapes. In the early 1480s, he worked in Rome on the wall frescoes of the Sistine Chapel alongside such artists as Botticelli and Perugino.