Carlo Crivelli, 'Saint Jerome', about 1476
Full title | Saint Jerome |
---|---|
Artist | Carlo Crivelli |
Artist dates | about 1430/5 - about 1494 |
Series | Four Panels from an Altarpiece, Ascoli Piceno |
Date made | about 1476 |
Medium and support | egg tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 91 × 26 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1868 |
Inventory number | NG788.10 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
This bearded cardinal once stood at the left side of a small altarpiece that Crivelli painted for a side chapel in the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. This is Saint Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Church and a favourite saint of the Dominican Order as a defender of the Catholic faith against heresy.
He is lost in contemplation, gazing down at the small brick church he holds in his left hand. In his right hand he holds a bound book of the Bible, which he had translated into Latin; golden rays emanating from the church’s door and window stand for the light his works cast on Church doctrine. At his feet, a tame lion sits on the edge of his robes, gazing up in trusting expectation and raising its paw, which is pierced by a long thorn; Jerome was supposed to have removed it.
This bearded cardinal once stood at the left side of a small altarpiece that Crivelli painted for a side chapel in the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno, in the Italian Marche. In a vivid contrast to the contained violence of the combat between Michael and the Devil, Saint Jerome appears lost in contemplation, gazing down at the small brick church he holds in his left hand.
Jerome’s face is in shadow but his long white beard, crow’s feet of wrinkles and deeply tanned face suggest the rigour of the outdoor life of this venerable hermit. In his right hand he holds a bound book of the Bible, which he had translated into Latin; golden rays emanating from the church’s door and window stand for the light his works cast on Church doctrine. To show off his skill at foreshortening, Crivelli has shown the book sideways on, so that we see its gilded fore-edges and the clasp which holds it closed, while its sides recede at a sharp angle. The artist’s interest in textiles is evident in the watered silk lining of Jerome’s hood, the creases of his white gloves and the tassels which hang from his hat.
The rich red of his cardinal’s robes forms a striking contrast to the glittering damask of the gilded background behind him. The robes fall in weighty folds around his feet and over the edge of the marble parapet on which he stands, linking his space with ours. In a detail typical of Crivelli, Jerome’s toe peeps out from his robes and turns up slightly so we can see the sole of his shoe (compare this to an earlier fifteenth-century work, Saints Jerome and John the Baptist). At his feet, a lion sits on the edge of his robes, gazing up in trusting expectation and raising its paw, which is pierced by a long thorn. According to legend, Jerome pulled a thorn out the paw of a lion which he met in the desert, and which remained his faithful companion till his death. The lion is startlingly accurate, and seems to have been drawn from life. Lions were kept in menageries by princes and cities in medieval Italy, and Crivelli may well have seen and sketched one, perhaps into a model book such as we know were used by other fifteenth-century artists.
Jerome could either have had a particular meaning for the commissioner of the San Domenico altarpiece, perhaps as a name-saint, or he might simply have been included as a defender of the Catholic faith against heresy, one of the Dominican Order’s prime concerns. The contrast between the elaborate decoration of the gilded background, and the flat burnished gold and raised pastiglia of the saint’s halo must have acted like a spotlight, drawing attention to Jerome’s face in the candlelight of a medieval church.
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Four Panels from an Altarpiece, Ascoli Piceno
These panels came from an altarpiece which Crivelli painted for a side chapel in the Dominican church at Ascoli Piceno, in the Italian Marche. The saints are identifiable by their attributes: Saint Michael, Prince of Archangels, fighting the devil; Saint Jerome, one of the Doctors of the Church, with his tame lion; Saint Peter Martyr, the second saint of the Dominican Order, a knife buried in his skull; and Saint Lucy, with her eyes on a wooden dish. The choice of saints must have had a special meaning to the original patron.
Although we don’t know who commissioned this polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece), plainly no expense was spared. The saints’ haloes and damask backgrounds would have sparkled and flickered in the candlelight of the Middle Ages, and lit the church with a glittering golden glow.
These panels came from an altarpiece which Crivelli painted for a side chapel in the Dominican church at Ascoli Piceno, in the Italian Marche. Crivelli painted two altarpieces for San Domenico, and their history is complex and intertwined.
In 1476 he was commissioned to do a large polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) for the main altar. Shortly after, he painted a smaller altarpiece for one of the chapels in the nave. Five panels from this survive: these four, and a Virgin and Child (now in Budapest). The whole was probably topped with a Lamentation over the Dead Christ, now lost.
In the nineteenth century parts of both were sold to a Russian prince, who mounted them in a grand frame to make a three-tiered altarpiece for the chapel of his villa in Florence. The whole complex is known after him as the Demidoff Altarpiece. In the 1960s the four saints in the upper tier were removed and are now displayed separately. Saints Michael and Lucy are still in their nineteenth-century frames, Jerome and Saint Peter Martyr without.
San Domenico was the church of the Dominican Order, one of the two chief mendicant – from the Latin word mendicare (‘to beg’) – orders of the Middle Ages. The Dominicans were friars who, although they took religious vows, were not confined to a monastery but lived in towns and cities. Founded in the thirteenth century to provide educated preachers and teachers for a growing urban population, they were vowed to poverty, although this did not prevent them commissioning costly works of art. San Domenico was a small church, and typically for the Franciscans and Dominicans, relied heavily on lay men and women for financial support. Fra Constanzo, the prior who oversaw San Domenico’s restoration in the late fifteenth century, raised funds by encouraging the laity to found private side chapels in the nave, and local families strove to outdo each other each other both artistically and spiritually in their decoration.
Unlike the high altar at the east end behind the screen, altarpieces in these chapels were clearly visible to the general public, though often screened off by iron gates. The altarpiece from which these came was quite small – the panels are less than 1 metre high – but of a very high quality. Although we don’t know who commissioned it, plainly no expense was spared. The panels were once set in a gilded frame with rounded arches, outlines of which can be seen on the panels of Jerome and Dominic. The saints’ haloes and the damask backgrounds are very similar to those Crivelli had used on the slightly earlier high altarpiece. They would have sparkled and flickered in the candlelight of the Middle Ages, and lit the church with a glittering golden glow.
The saints are identifiable by their attributes. Saint Michael, as Prince of Archangels and commander of the heavenly host, was in the place of honour on the Virgin’s right, with Saint Jerome, one of the Doctors of the Church, beside him. On the Virgin’s left were Saint Peter Martyr, the second saint of the Dominican Order and dedicatee of the chapel which housed the altar, and Saint Lucy. The choice of saints must have had a special meaning to the original patron.