Landscape with the Penitent Saint Jerome
1530–40
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
38.1 × 54.5 cm (15 × 21 7/16 in.); Framed: 60.7 × 77.2 × 6.4 cm (23 7/8 × 30 3/8 × 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
111453
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In the midst of this expansive landscape, a tiny figure of the hermit Saint Jerome beats his breast with a rock in penance for his earlier worldly pursuits as he gazes at a sculpture of Jesus on the cross. In spite of this fervent activity in the foreground, the true subject of this painting is the vast landscape behind the saint. The artist rendered the mountains, valleys, rivers, and villages in successive bands of brown, green, and blue, the typical structure of the independent landscape that...